Vega Sicilia Pintia Toro 2017
The Wine
Made from the Tinta de Toro (indigenous Tempranillo) variety.
95 Points James Suckling "Lots of spices and bright fruit for such a ripe, hot vintage. Some orange-peel undertones. Full-bodied and layered with beautiful fruit and length. Really nicely done. Another two or three years will soften it."
94 Points Decanter Sarah Jane Evans MW - 94 Points Drink 2023 - 2027"...72% of the vines on their own rootstocks (a feature of Toro’s phylloxera-resistant soils). Inky colour, with exuberant aromas of blackberries, cranberries and cedar. The palate is all about power, balanced by fine freshness. The dark fruits are overload by black pepper and cumin spices. They are easing back the oak: 35% of the malolactic is in barrel. Only 20% of the ageing is in American oak, the rest French.
94+ Points Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, Luis Gutiérrez Drink 2022 - 2028 "Toro (almost) didn't suffer the frost of 2017 that decimated Ribera del Duero, and in that early harvest, the grapes for the 2017 Pintia were picked between September 6th and 17th trying to keep the freshness and acidity. They also did a softer extraction, reduced the percentage of wine that went through malolactic in barrel and used less American oak for the élevage, trying to achieve a more elegant wine. Still the wine is ripe, juicy, round and powerful at 15% alcohol, with a mellow palate with a pH of 3.9 and 4.5 grams of acidity. The wine matured in new and used oak barrels for 12 months. It feels quite fresh and harmonious, not showing any heat, not as fresh and atypical as 2016. It keeps the poise and the balance and has abundant but fine tannins. These wines repay time in bottle, and even if approachable now, it should get better with time. It's like a refined version of the 2015. A triumph over the adverse conditions of the year."
The Details
Variety - Tempranillo
Country - Spain
Region - Toro
Extra - Cork
Year - 2017
Volume - 750ml
About the Wine Maker 
From the stable of Spain's most prestigious wine estate 'Vega Sicilia', founded in 1864 by Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves.
Pintia lies on the banks of the Douro River, within the Toro D.O. region - along the Duero river from Vega Sicilia, in hotter, wilder territory as one approaches the Portuguese border (after which, the Duero becomes the famous Douro of Port fame). The extremely cold winters and hot summers influence its complex soils, which are mainly known for their significant pebble content. Altitudes are slightly lower than in the Ribera del Duero, making for very hot days, but 500-700m altitudes still mean big day-night temperature changes, so acidity and fruit are preserved.
Vega Sicilia set themselves an ambitious challenge when they started purchasing vineyards in Toro in 1997. This region was well-known for wines of great character, but little finesse. For 4 years they perfected their style in secret, before finally releasing the 2001 under the name Pintia.