Arenisca Toro Parcela ‘los Pilones‘ - Tinto de Toro

95% Tinto de Toro (Tempranillo) met 5% Moscatel, Malvasia, Verdejo & Palomino | wijngaard 'Paraje Los Pilones' | field blend | bodem van zandsteen | trossen zijn ontsteeld en voor 50% vergist in een open houten vat en 50% op staaltank | na 20 dagen heel zachtjes geperst, voornamelijk 'free run juice' | 11 maanden rijping op Frans eikenhout van 3 tot 8 jaar oud | krachtige wijn | braam | spicey | vulling | zoete tannine

Deze wijn is gemaakt in Rueda en mag daarom de appellatie Toro niet dragen. Toro geeft voornamelijk rijpe volle wijn, Manuel heeft redelijk vroeg geplukt op zoek naar frisheid. 

Isaac Cantalapiedra

De familie Cantalapiedra bezit ongeveer 20 hectare in het gebied la Seca, op 750 meter hoogte en ten hoogte van Madrid. Manuel maakt deel uit van de huidige generatie en heeft een duidelijke visie; rijpere stijl Verdejo van biologische druiven. Daarnaast hebben ze drie single vineyards genaamd: 'Chivitero', 'Los Picones' en 'La Otea' en sinds kort is hij ook begonnen met een project in Toro waar hij met de inheemse druif Tinto de Toro een hele fraaie rode wijn maakt. Inmiddels is de hele serie in ons assortiment en bijna niet meer weg te denken in de topgastronomie.

Review

There is one red wine here that was made with Tempranillo grapes purchased from a grower in Toro that carries the name of Manuel Cantalapiedra on the label and no appellation of origin, produced and raised in their winery in La Seca. The 2017 Arenisca (sandstone) is unusually fresh for the zone and warm year, closer in style to what Alvar de Dios is producing in Toro than the more classical names of the zone. It's fresher and has less extraction. It has some white grapes, as part of the vineyards are very old and always have a field blend of varieties. It has a soft and juicy palate with round tannins and a serious finish, and the oak is nicely integrated after aging in oak barrels of various sizes and ages. 10,800 bottles and 120 magnums produced. It was bottled in January 2019. He might end up building a small winery in Toro. We shall see...

Manuel Cantalapiedra is one of the new upcoming young names in the Rueda zone, but as is often the case with projects like his, he sells the wines without the appellation Rueda, even if the vineyards are within the appellation's limits and at the winery in La Seca, one of the most prominent villages of Rueda. He sells his names under the name of his father, except for a couple of wines with no added sulfur that I didn't taste. This time he showed me two single-vineyard Verdejo bottlings and also a red from the zone of Toro. He has 20 hectares of 10- to 40-year-old vineyards but only makes wine from eight of them, and he sells the rest of the grapes. He has recently purchased a plot of older vines in Alzacarén and is working with a grower from Villanueva de Duero who has an ungrafted plot thought to be about 150 years old. The wines have shown progressively better since I tasted his first wine from 2014. Current production averages 50,000 bottles per vintage; the wines carry organic certification. A name to watch. Luis Gutierrez 91/100