PINTIA Tempos Vega Sicilia - Toro 2017 DOUBLE MAGNUM (300cl) in Wooden Case

Description

Pintia 2017 showcases a concentrated and vibrant profile, delivering bold flavours of blackcurrant, blackberry, and dark plum. It has received high praise, including 96 points from Wine Enthusiast, which highlights its aromas of black cherry and sage, with a smooth palate featuring notes of cassis, coffee bean, and dark chocolate. The Wine Advocate rates it 94+, noting the optimal conditions that allowed for a ripe, juicy, and powerful wine with 15% alcohol. This vintage exhibits velvety tannins and bright acidity, creating a well-structured and balanced experience. Decanter also scores it 94 points, praising its inky colour and exuberant dark fruit aromas, alongside subtle spice. This age-worthy wine is perfect for current enjoyment or cellaring for future refinement.

*****

WINE ENTHUSIAST 96 points
This dark-garnet-colored wine has aromas of black cherry, black currant, sage and black-olive paste. It is smooth on impact, with flavors of blackberry, cassis, coffee bean, dark chocolate and clove. Forceful tannins slowly peel away to reveal a lingering pomegranate and chocolate finish. Drink through 2042. — Mike DeSimone

THE WINE ADVOCATE 94+
Drink Date: 2022 - 2028
Toro (almost) didn't suffer the frost of 2017 that decimated Ribera del Duero, and in that early harvest, the grapes for the 2017 Pintia were picked between September 6th and 17th trying to keep the freshness and acidity. They also did a softer extraction, reduced the percentage of wine that went through malolactic in barrel and used less American oak for the élevage, trying to achieve a more elegant wine. Still the wine is ripe, juicy, round and powerful at 15% alcohol, with a mellow palate with a pH of 3.9 and 4.5 grams of acidity. The wine matured in new and used oak barrels for 12 months. It feels quite fresh and harmonious, not showing any heat, not as fresh and atypical as 2016. It keeps the poise and the balance and has abundant but fine tannins. These wines repay time in bottle, and even if approachable now, it should get better with time. It's like a refined version of the 2015. A triumph over the adverse conditions of the year. 204,240 bottles, 6,720 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in May 2019. - Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

DECANTER 94 points
Tasted by: Sarah Jane Evans MW (at Vega Sicilia tasting, 01 Jul 2021) Part of Vega Sicilia: producer profile and latest releases tasted
Drinking Window: 2023 - 2027
Vega Sicilia has 110ha in Toro; 72% of the vines on their own rootstocks (a feature of Toro’s phylloxera-resistant soils). Inky colour, with exuberant aromas of blackberries, cranberries and cedar. The palate is all about power, balanced by fine freshness. The dark fruits are overload by black pepper and cumin spices. They are easing back the oak: 35% of the malolactic is in barrel. Only 20% of the ageing is in American oak, the rest French.