Bodegas Teso la Monja Alabaster 2019 75cl

100% Tinta de Toro (Tempranillo).

Jaargang 2013 kreeg de hoogste score in Guia Penin 2016: 98 punten!

Van Alabaster wordt verwacht dat het de opvolger van Termanthia zou kunnen worden (de familie EGUREN verkocht Termanthia in 2007 aan Moet & Chandon en startte in hetzelfde jaar een nieuw project: Bodegas Teso la Monja)).
De familie Eguren zet consequent haar traditie van zorgvuldigheid en kwaliteit voort. De druiven worden uitsluitend met de hand geplukt en in kleine dozen verzameld om beschadiging te vermijden. De opbrengst bedraagt 10hl/ha.
16 maanden gerijpt op Frans eiken. Uitsluitend geoogst van wijnstokken van 65-100 jaar. Volle aromatische wijn. Pruimen, zwarte bessen, kersen, mineralen, prachtige tannines en een grootse finale.

Uitermate geschikt om op te leggen. Deze wijn zal zich tenminste 20 jaar na botteling nog verder kunnen ontwikkelen.

Wine Advocate:

I also tasted the 2018 and 2019 of the Alabaster side by side. The 2018 Alabaster was selected from ancient ungrafted vines, 11.5 hectares in Valdemediano, La Jara and Marinacea vineyards in Toro that yielded 12 hectoliters per hectare, something extremely low. The grapes were hand destemmed and fermented in open-top tanks with their own strain of yeasts. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation and 18 months of aging in 100% new French oak barrels. It feels like a very classical vintage, a little more tannic and with some edges that feel more polished in the 2019—even the oak feels a little more noticeable here. 4,000 bottles were filled in July 2020.

Teso la Monja is the name of the project of the Eguren family (San Vicente, Sierra Cantabria, Viñedos de Páganos) in Toro where they started Numanthia, which was later sold to a French group. They then resumed their activity in Toro with old vineyards from which they produce around 300,000 bottles per vintage. The wines come in their powerful style, ripe and round, generously oaked and with the character from the zone. The range is defined by the age of the vineyards used, except in the single-vineyard Teso la Monja. As for the vintages, 2019 was a dry year (not necessarily warm), a year of good ripeness and soft tannins given there was finally some rain at the end of August. The 2018s are a little lighter and have a little more acidity. All of this within the regularity of Toro, of course. There was only one wine from 2017, the scarce top of the range, a year that is quite different from Ribera del Duero, as they didn't suffer from frost, it was a warm year of low yields.

Jun 2021