Winemaker Notes
The Eguren family sought to honor Victorino Eguren with this elegant, complex, fresh expression of Tinta de Toro. Sourced from some of the finest ungrafted vineyards in Toro, the Eguren family’s philosophy is to discover the elegance of Tinta de Toro. Victorino is the most muscular wine from Teso la Monja.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Next up, the 2017 Victorino comes from a cellar selection of the top sites and old vines and is brought up in new French oak. It's another pure, clean, modern styled wine that still has incredible character as well as complexity in its black raspberry, blueberry, kirsch, toasted spice, vanilla bean, and floral aromas and flavors. With medium to full-bodied richness, rocking tannins, and a balanced, seamless mouthfeel, enjoy this beautiful Toro over the coming 10-12 years, if not longer given its balance.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dark red-violet in the glass, this wine offers a bouquet of black cherry and butterscotch. It offers a nice mix of spice and fruit flavors—particularly dark plum, cassis, pomegranate, tobacco and licorice that coalesce in a note of clove on the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I also tasted the 2017 Victorino, from a year that was very different from the warm and dry 2017, as 2016 was cold and wet and saw a very late and slow picking because of the slow and late ripening of the fruit. Fermentation and élevage were the same (20 months in 100% new oak), so the differences are due to the vintage conditions. I was very surprised by this 2017 (as with the rest of the 2017s from this address), as I found a fresh and balanced wine, perhaps a little lighter, with round and fine tannins. There are still oak-related aromas and flavors, but there is less toast (they use a different toast for the barrels), and the wine should integrate it with a little more time in bottle. But it should be approachable while you wait for the 2016.
Rating: 93+ -
James Suckling
A rich, slightly jammy red with purple fruit, plums and chocolate. It’s full-bodied and chunky. Ripe tannins. Big, fruity wine. Needs time to come together. Better in a year or two.
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.