Winemaker Notes
Dense purple in color, the Teso la Monja Victorino presents in the nose a great concentration of aromas of black fruit with brandy, spices and mineral nuances. On the palate it is well structured, powerful, very expressive, creamy, rich and aromatic with smooth tannins.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Jumping up in price, the 2019 Victorino offers more finesse and elegance, with medium to full-bodied aromas and flavors of cassis, black raspberries, spicy oak, and chocolate. It's rich and concentrated, with ripe, velvety tannins and a great finish. It's another pleasure-bent, impeccably made wine in the lineup that I'd certainly be thrilled to drink.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This elegant wine is bright rubycolored with aromas of ripe black and red fruits, especially cassis and black currant. It has aromas of cigar box and wet river rocks in the complex bouquet. The tannins are generous, velvety and very round. It is full-bodied in the mouth with flavors of black currant, ripe red cherry and black raspberry.
-
James Suckling
Gorgeous blackberries and blueberries with some violets. Medium to full body with firm, silky tannins and a long, polished finish. Focused and refined. Extremely silky for Toro. Drink or hold.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Victorino was selected from 45- to 100-year-old vines in La Jara and El Palo (Toro), El Rosal and El Risco in Villabuena del Puente and in Valdefinjas (35 hectares) that yielded 21 hectoliters per hectare, quite low. It had a traditional vinification of destemmed grapes with yeasts selected from their own vineyards with malolactic and 20 months of aging in 100% new French oak barrels. This is still very young and marked by the toast from the barrels, smoky and spicy and with ripe and juicy fruit, creamy, very round and with silky tannins, the signature of the vintage. It's tasty and has a clean and defined finish. Very 2019.
-
Wine Spectator
Offers licorice, cigar box and tar accents on the nose that lead to flavors of black raspberry and boysenberry coulis on the palate. Fine tannins provide grip and tension, firming the finish.
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.