Winemaker Notes
Alabaster is the Eguren family’s representation of the elegance that can be achieved in wines made from the oldest Tinta de Toro vineyards. Profound balance, silky texture, and maximum expression of terroir.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Alabaster is another pure Tinta de Toro release and comes from 11.5 hectares of vineyards located around Valmediano, la Jara and Marinacea. All from very old (100+-year-old) ungrafted vines, completely destemmed, and aged all in new French oak, it has a sensational perfume of plums, graphite, and wood smoke, with more and more chalky minerality developing with time in the glass. Rich, full-bodied, gorgeously concentrated, and opulent, it’s one heavenly Toro that’s going to keep for 20-25 years.
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Wine Spectator
Polished and dense, this muscular red offers bright flavors of cherry, red plum, sandalwood, licorice and cocoa, focused by ripe, full tannins and fresh acidity. Floral and mineral notes emerge on the finish. Reserved now, but should blossom with time. Drink now through 2030.
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James Suckling
Sweet-smelling, spicy black cherry and well integrated oak. This is really sexy and seductive. Plush with glossy, polished tannins and long flavors on the finish.
Spanish red wine is known for being bold, heady, rustic and age-worthy, Spain is truly a one-of-a-kind wine-producing nation. A great majority of the country is hot, arid and drought-ridden, and since irrigation has only been recently introduced and (controversially) accepted, viticulture has sustained—and flourished—only through a great understanding of Spain’s particular conditions. Large spacing between vines allows each enough resources to survive and as a result, the country has the most acreage under vine compared to any other country, but is usually third in production.
Of the Spanish red wines, the most planted and respected grape variety is Tempranillo, the star of Spain’s Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions. Priorat specializes in bold red blends, Jumilla has gained global recognition for its single varietal Monastrell and Utiel-Requena has garnered recent attention for its reds made of Bobal.