Toro

Toro is a small country town (population 10000) that stands on a cliff top offering a panoramic prospect towards the south across the flood-plain of the Duero and Guarena rivers.  Upstream and to the left lies Rueda, with Ribera del Duero beyond.  Downstream and to the right is the city of Zamora and, and some forty kilometers (twenty five miles) distant, the border with Portugal. However, there is no trace of Portuguese influence here (as there is for example in Galicia).  Toro is Castilian to the roots of its vinous hair.  Its wines reflect a more direct link in style with the tradition of strength, power, and fruit that was so highly prized by the medieval movers and shakers of Castile.

The Toro Denominación de Origen is located directly to the west of Rueda DO.  The town of Toro itself – a pleasant modestly prosperous and cheerfully comfortable place – is situated north of Medina on the Zamora – Valladoid road.

This part of the country could rightly be called the “breadbasket” of Castile: north of the river are the rolling wheat fields of the Tierra del Pan, and south of the river lie the vineyards of the Tierra del Vino, the “wine country”.

The most widely planted grape variety throughout the Toro DO zone is the Tinto de Toro (once again, the name is a synonym of Tempranillo), that was initially replanted  after the departure of the Moors.  Separate development and propagation over the intervening centuries has resulted in a grape that ripens two weeks earlier than its cousins in Rioja.  This fact coupled with the height of the region’s vineyards at between 600 and 750 meters (1969 to 2461 feet) results in riper thicker skinned fruit which in turn yields wines that have considerably more extract in terms of flavor, colour and strength.  Garnacha and Cabernet Sauvignon are also grown in the region, although the latter is not permitted as an ingredient in any of the DO wines.  A small amount of white Toro wine is also made from Malvasia and Verdejo.  On the whole, however, this is essentially red wine country.  When vineyards are replanted, the consejor regulador recommends Tinto de Toro.  The northeastern part of the Toro DO falls within the province of Valladolid and is known as Morales; the rest lies within the province of Zamora.  The main soil type is alluvial, since vineyards tend to be planted on the plain of the river Guarena, which flows into the Duero.  Some limestone appears in the morales sub zone but clay forms the basis of most vineyards, which assures the vine roots of a good water supply even the hottest part of the summer.  The region’s altitude gives the vineyards full daytime sunshine with cooler nights, which results in nutrients being retained for the grapes, rather than being consumed overnight by the vines.  Maximum yield is around forty two hectoliters per hectare, although, as elsewhere in Spain, the actual production is barely half the legal maximum.

Toro is usually made from 100 per cent Tinto de Toro (seventy five per cent is the legal minimum). It can achieve up to fifteen per cent alcohol by volume (abv) by natural fermentation and uniquely in Spain it must achieve a minimum abv of 12.5 per cent.

Modern Toro wine is no less powerful although 13.5 to fourteen per cent abv is usually the strength nowadays .  Its blockbusting bold bright Tempranillo fruit drinks well in the year after the vintage, but it can also age disgracefully in to a mind blowing reserve or even gran reserve with the more powerful fruit and length than is normally accorded to a wine of such venerability. Escalating land prices in Ribera del Duero have led investors from the region and further afield to look at neighboring Toro.  It may not have the dizzy altitudes and microclimates of its more famous neighbor, but it does have a very consistent climate and a grape well adapted to the soil.  At its foundation in 1987, there were just four bodegas in the zone, and in the following thirteen years eight further bodegas were founded.  Then in 2000 a further six came, followed by nine more in 2001 and five in 2002.  The message had obviously sunk in by then.  Production has trebled since 1998, when eight bodegas produced 18 000 hectoliters to thirty two bodegas producing 50 000 hectoliters in 2004.

Text Compliments of “The New Spain”- John Radford