The Wine Advocate # 221 - 31st Jan 2018 - Luis Gutiérrez - 2013 Pintia - 93/100 - 2019 - 2025 - $78
The challenge in Toro is to achieve the elegance usually linked with the name of Vega Sicilia, and with the 2013 Pintia, it's achieved by fine-tuning the harvest date to maintain the freshness of aromas and acidity of the wine. The grapes were picked between September 26th and October 10th and fermented after a cold soak. Malolactic occurred in 70% French barrels, 25% American oak and the remaining 5% in Hungarian barriques. It's a more elegant year for Pintia, as cooler vintages usually help counterbalance the natural power of Toro. It's also a lighter year with good freshness, and this showed a fine thread on the palate and was nicely textured, elegance within the rusticity of the zone. It was bottled in April 2015. 149,449 bottles, 5,558 magnums and some larger formats were produced