Tio Uco 2025

Alvar de Dios Hernández built his own project in El Pego, in D.O. Toro, around the old vines his grandfather farmed. He works towards organic and biodynamic cultivation and a classic style of winemaking, which has put him among the more respected growers in the area. Tio Uco blends Tinta de Toro, the local form of Tempranillo, with Garnacha. Toro sits on the high Castilian plateau, with a continental climate of hot days and cold nights, and that wide diurnal swing preserves acidity and aromatic freshness in fruit that would otherwise turn jammy. The old vines, ungrafted on sandy soils in many sites, give low yields of concentrated fruit. Ageing for just five months in large foudres limits the influence of wood, so the barrel breathes oxygen into the wine and rounds the texture without adding obvious oak flavour. The colour is bright purple-ruby. The nose shows red and dark berries, earth, black pepper and dried herbs. The palate is medium bodied, fresh and savoury, with grippy but ripe tannins. Serve at 16 degrees. It suits grilled lamb and beef.