PINTIA Tempos Vega Sicilia 2018 Bottle (Tinta de Toro)

Description

We are extremely pleased to be able to offer the latest releases from the fabled Ribera del Duero estate Vega Sicilia. Prized for their consistency and first-growth equivalent quality, Vega Sicilia produces Spain’s most collectible and iconic wines. 2022 saw the fortieth anniversary under Pablo Alvarez’s ownership and bottles from the eighties and nineties have more than proven the test of time.

Background

Pintia 2018 is the fruitiest and most vertical Pintia to date, but also has a lot of complexity. A wine with a very silky texturethat can be enjoyed now, or aged in bottle.

100% TINTA DE TORO
Pintia lies on the banks of the Douro river, within the Toro D.O. region. The extremely cold winters and hot summers influence its complex soils, which are mainly known for their significant pebble content.This means that finding the perfect harvest period is key to ensure the wine conserves both its fresh aromas and acidity. Harvesting ran from September 20 to October 7. A rainier vintage, it already looked very promising when tasting the grapes, with great fruit and well polymerised tannins; this quality carried forward into the wine. A new production plant was used for the first time during fermentation, enabling even more precise work during extraction.It was a very balanced year, with tenser wines, in which the proportion of new oak was increased slightly, while the level of toast of the barrels continues to be reduced.

The Vintage
The 2018 vintage saw more rainfall usual, particularly during spring, thus avoiding periods of water stress experienced in the vineyards in previous years. May saw a late mild frost and July was unusual (rainy, milder temperatures than expected). Good weather and even warmth as ripening ended produced perfectly healthy grapes. The harvest started somewhat later due to the weather conditions.

THE WINE ADVOCATE 95+ points
Drink Date 2023 - 2029
The 2018 Pintia comes from a cooler and wetter vintage when the grapes were picked between September 20th and October 7th, and it fermented in their new fermentation room where they feel they can be more precise. The wine still has 15% alcohol, with a pH of 3.82 and 4.6 grams of acidity. It had a shorter élevage this year and matured for 10 months in French and 18% American oak barrels, 81% of them new. The nose is very expressive, with bright cherry fruit, and the wine is fresher than the norm in the region, with integrated alcohol and oak, reflecting a very cool year, floral and perfumed. The palate is medium-bodied and reveals very fine and elegant tannins. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Pintia. 251,512 bottles, 14,144 half-bottles, 6,543 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in April 2020. - Luis Gutiérrez, 31st Jan 2023

JAMES SUCKLING 96 Points
Brooding but fresh nose, with tarry blackberries and fresh blue fruit. Iron, wet stones, violets and a hint of mocha, too. Full-bodied, mineral and broad on the palate with a stony feel, though not heavy at all. A really elegant, nuanced and extremely poised Pintia that you can enjoy now and for the next decade. A really eclectic Pintia showing more elegance and calculation. Drink or hold.