Elías Mora Crianza 2021

Elías Mora Crianza is a varietal Tinta de Toro from D.O. Toro in Castilla y León, made at the San Román de Hornija winery founded in 2000 and now led by Victoria Benavides, one of the most respected figures in Spanish wine. Tinta de Toro is the local strain of Tempranillo, adapted over centuries to Toro's harsh conditions into a thicker skinned, deeply pigmented grape. The vineyards sit between the Duero and Hornija rivers on poor sandy and stony soils, and the extreme continental climate of baking days and cold nights ripens the fruit to high sugar while the altitude preserves enough acidity for balance. Many of the vines are ungrafted, the sandy soils having spared them from phylloxera. The wine is aged twelve months in French and American oak, the French barrels lending fine spice and the American wood a rounder vanilla note, with slow oxygen exchange taming Toro's naturally robust tannins. The colour is deep cherry red with ruby hues. The nose shows black plum and cherry over dark chocolate, liquorice and sweet spice, and the palate is full and powerful at fourteen and a half degrees, the ripe tannins firm but rounded through a long, savoury finish. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees, decanted ahead. It calls for hearty red meat.