Now, everything about this wine is big. A comes in a big, heavy bottle, the wine itself it fairly big and it has some big, French names on the front label: Lurton and Rolland. I know a little about Mr. Rolland’s winemaking, but I’ve not knowingly had one of his wines…

Of course I’ve seen the movie, read the comments in articles and forums etc. Industrial and lacking soul I’ve heard, I’ve also heard that many of his wines are fantastic. So I opened this with an open mind, but with wines like Pago la Jara, San Roman and Numanthia as reference points for what I consider to be classic, terroir driven wines from Toro. And to be honest, I thought this was lacking in the identity stakes. I don’t get that this is from Toro, or even Spain, while tasting this wine. That’s not to say it’s not a very well made wine however. I did try to eat some lamb with this, but the wine was too much…

This is good to go from opening, but I decanted and drank over 3 hours. The nose comes barrelling out of the glass with dusty chocolate shop (chocolate, vanilla, sweet creamy coffee etc) over the top of some blackberry and blueberry fruit.  I couldn’t really call this subtle, but it isn’t over done at the same time. In the mouth, its thick and lush, fluffy and soft tannins with just the right level of acid to maintain good balance. It is a little jammy on the palate, and full of warm fruit, however it doesn’t show its 15.5+ alcohol. A bit of a monster all up, but an enjoyable one. 92 Pts.

Source: Ce Soir Imports Price: $145 Closure: Conventional Cork