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
-
Jeb Dunnuck
There are just 4,000 bottles of the 2017 Alabaster, which is all Tinta de Toro from a single vineyard of 100-year-old vines. Where the Victorino spends 20 months in new barrels, this actually spends slightly less time in oak and is aged 18 months in new French oak. It's cut from the same cloth as the Victorino (for the money, that's the smart buy) and offers a pure, polished, creamy style that carries awesome black raspberry, cassis, vanilla, spice, and floral aromas and flavors. Its oak is brilliantly integrated, it has the classic 2017 fresh, focused texture, great tannins, and a gorgeous finish. This is just beautifully done, flawlessly balanced, and is going to evolve for 10-15 years.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I tasted the 2017 Alabaster next to the 2016, two wines from the same plots and same vinification and aging in very different years. This 2017 is not heady and ripe, as would correspond with a warm, dry and very early harvest. It should also be understandably oaky after 18 months in brand-new French oak barrels. Surprisingly enough, it's terribly aromatic, expressive and floral, jumping out of the glass, with an extrovert personality, with a lactic touch and some notes of licorice, with better-integrated oak and more freshness than the 2016. The oak is less evident (they have changed the toast of the barrels, but they still use 100% new oak) and more integrated. This is still a modern and generously oaked Tempranillo, but in the overall context, it's the least oaky of all their wines I tasted this time.
-
James Suckling
A rich Toro, but not overpowering, with a line of fine tannins and freshness running through the center palate. Lots of chocolate and wood character. Flavorful at the end.
Teso La Monja was founded in 2007 by Marcos and Miguel Angel Eguren, the fourth winemaking generation of the Eguren family from San Vicente de la Sonsierra in Rioja Alavesa. As they have been growing Tempranillo in Rioja Alavesa since the late 1800’s, the Eguren family fell in love with D.O. Toro when they first travelled there with Jorge Ordóñez, seduced by the region’s original clone of Tempranillo and ungrafted vines.
Jorge Ordóñez and the Eguren family were the original founders of Bodegas Numanthia, which was responsible, along with their current work, for the resurrection of D.O. Toro as one of Spain’s preeminent wine regions. After the sale of Numanthia in 2007, the Eguren family founded Teso La Monja as a new challenge for the family – finding the elegance in the wines of Toro.
The family selected vineyards in the northernmost part of D.O. Toro that have a much higher proportion of rounded stones than what is typical. This produces extremely silky, elegant wines. The winemaker, Marcos Eguren, is considered by many to be the finest winemaker in Spain. His son, Eduardo Eguren, the fifth generation, also works as the winemaker at Teso La Monja.
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.