Winemaker Notes
The Eguren family of Teso la Monja are one of D.O. Toro's most important pioneers, having cofounded Bodega Numanthia-Termes with Jorge Ordóñez in 1997. Numanthia was the first exhaustive fine wine project to resuscitate Toro since before phylloxera. Toro is one of Spain's most historic winemaking regions. Tempranillo originated in the Duero Valley, and many ampelographers believe that it originated in Toro, where it is known as Tinta de Toro. These ancient clones of Tempranillo were responsible for Toro being celebrated as Spain's finest winemaking region during the Middle Ages. Toro was also Spain's only region to completely resist phylloxera due to its sandy soils. Teso la Monja is the Eguren family's new interpretation of Toro, where they sought to produce a more refined and restrained expression of Toro by focusing on northern facing vineyard sites planted on clay soils covered in canto rodado.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Almirez comes from 41.7 hectares of ungrafted vines in Valdefinjas and Toro, ranging between 15 and 65 years of age. The grapes fermented for 16 days in open-top vats, followed by malolactic fermentation in barrel and 14 months in French oak barrels, 30% of them new. I tasted it next to some wines from Rioja, and being Tempranillo, they are very different. This is very clean and modern, with a focused expression of fruit. It is young and clean, precise and perfumed, without the rusticity some attribute to the wines from Toro. But Toro can also be elegant, even with the heat wave at the end of the summer. It has 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.75, five grams of acidity and abundant, elegant, round tannins.
-
James Suckling
Good aromas of dark cherries, berries and touches of chalk and dark chocolate. Fluid, fruity and juicy, with a medium body and tight-grained tannins. Good fruit expression.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
With production small from the estate-owned vineyards in Toro, pruned short and bush-trained, the 2023 Almirez made from Tinto de Toro/Tempranillo is bright, concentrated, and tannic in its youth, with structure and a refined profile. Earthy, there’s a length of dried herb and graphite that dots the brooding blackberry and toasted oak from French oak aging, just 30% new. Age 12-15 years.
-
Wine Spectator
An herbaceous red, with chopped rosemary, bay leaf and fennel seed aromatics. Fresh and chewy on the palate, offering flavors of red currant, pomegranate and mulberry fruit laced with hints of cocoa powder, graphite and tar. Drink now through 2036.
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.
Notoriously food-friendly, long-lasting and Spain’s most widely planted grape, Tempranillo is the star variety of red wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero. The Rioja terms Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva indicate both barrel and bottle time before release. Traditionally blended in Rioja with Garnacha, plus a bit of Mazuelo (Carignan) and Graciano, the Tempranillo in Ribera del Duero typically stands alone. Somm Secret—Tempranillo claims many different names depending on location. In Penedès, it is called Ull de Llebre and in Valdepeñas, goes by Cencibel. Known as Tinta Roriz in Portugal, Tempranillo plays an important role in Port wine.
Spain's remote, high elevation Spanish wine zone between the regions of Bierzo and Ribera del Duero produces intense, full-bodied reds made from Tempranillo, locally called Tinta de Toro. This local variant has adapted to the region’s climatic extremes and recognizing its potential, top producers from Ribera del Duero and Rioja have invested heavily in its vineyards.