2001 Finca Sobreno Tinto Crianza

Region: Toro, Spain

Composition: 100% Tinto de Toro (Tempranillo) - but it could be as little as 75%

Background: Toro is a small but busy region in the Duero Valley area of Spain, located slightly west of Rueda (which is, in turn, slightly west of Ribera del Duero). The Duero river flows through Ribera del Duero, Rueda, and finally Toro before it enters Portugal and pops out to the ocean in the city of Porto. The region has grown quite a bit in the last two decades... in 1998 there were eight bodegas in Toro and two years later there were over three times that many. The local version of the Tempranillo grape is called "Tinto de Toro", and it is the main red grape of the region (the wines produced in this DO must be 75 percent Tinto de Toro).

This wine is labelled "Crianza", which (generally) means it spent three years aging post-harvest and one of those years was in oak. This is the second rung up in the ladder of Spanish wines (you will see these terms often on bottles, so here is a little Spanish wine label primer):

Joven – not required to spend any time aging in casks before release. The wine can see oak, but often doesn't. You don't see many of these in the U.S. and they are not very highly regarded, since they are often made from not-great wine.

Crianza – Crianzas can't be sold until their third year, and must have spent a minimum of six months in oak barriques (in Rioja and Ribera del Duero, the wine must spend 12 months in oak). The wine used is of better quality than the Joven wines, and the result is a lot more pleasing and sophisticated.

Reserva – Riservas have to wait four years post-harvest to be released, and must spend three years aging, one of which must be in oak. Only made when there is a good vintage.

Gran Reserva – These are oldest, and have to wait six years before release. Two of those years must be spent in oak, and another three in a tank or bottle. These are only made when there is an excellent vintage.

All the above apply to red wines... the white wines usually have slightly less stringent oak/aging requirements. And as someone pointed out to me a while ago, these wines are usually pretty inexpensive when you think that you have basically had them aged for you, and haven't had to worry about storing them!

I don't know much about Finca Sobreno, but it looks like they have been around 16 years, which makes them an old-school producer for the region. They made 3,000 cases of this particular wine. Look for it, it has a bright yellow-orange label you can't miss.

Notes: Dark dark dark ruby black in the glass. It has a beautiful nose if you like tobacco leaves and leather mixed in with your black cherry. There's some slight hotness, but it isn't too bad. It's got black fruit and more leather on the palate, with a healthy dose of tannin and dust in the slightly spicy finish. It leaves a lingering tobacco leaf and oregano flavor on the palate. I have another bottle sitting around and I will give it another year to see how it fares. It's a pretty aggressive wine and I think it could easily handle another year or two of aging.

Cost: $12

Overall: B

Comments

[Kieca]

Generally Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ages well, so you should be okay holding onto it for a few years, provided you keep it away from heat and light and all that. I don't know the specifics of the bottles you have and a lot would depend on the vintage and how the wines were made, but I imagine you have a couple of years to drink them, at least.

[deccanheffalump]

Please could you tell me..since I know zilch about wine, but I know what I like,...I bought a lot(for me) of Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano last year, most of it 2003, 2002. Should I keep it or drink it. Will it age well or become vinegar?
Would be grateful for some advice.

[Kieca]

Yeah, as a vegetarian it is hard to pair some wines with food, and I will sometimes have bread and cheese instead of dinner or make something equally aggressive with lots of spice and onions and/or tomatoes. Last night I wasn't really hungry so I just made a sandwich and ignored the mismatch (I also do this a lot). We were actually on the tail end of the bottle last night, and I guess I was actually on the new bottle by the time I got to the sandwich (a bad bad bad new bottle, sadly, which I will lament later).

Matt paired his with potato chips. We are lawless in our house!

[sasha]

That sounds great. I like a lot of leather and tobacco in my wine. I will see if I can find some this weekend. What do you think about a food pairing? Sounds like it probably needs food.

I find it hard sometimes to pair these agressive reds with something veg.