The 2013 old vine bottling (sixty to ninety year-old vines) of San Román from Bodegas Maurodos was raised in fifty percent new oak, in a combination of American and French casks. This is entirely tempranillo, with the...
The 2013 old vine bottling (sixty to ninety year-old vines) of San Román from Bodegas Maurodos was raised in fifty percent new oak, in a combination of American and French casks. This is entirely tempranillo, with the 2013 vintage coming in at the same 14.5 percent octane as last year’s fine example. As I mentioned in my note on the 2012 a year ago, this is a modern-styled wine that is done impeccably well, with a sense of aromatic precision that is pretty rare in wines at this level of ripeness. The bouquet offers up a nascently complex blend of black cherries, cassis, a touch of cigar smoke, balsamic tones, a good base of soil, gentle notes of garrigue and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, ripe and well-balanced, with a rock solid core, fine focus, firm, chewy tannins and very good length and grip on the slightly warm finish. As I mentioned in my note on the 2012 San Román, this is really a beautifully made wine that could clearly be even better to my palate if harvested just a touch less ripe. Why not trade just a touch more youthful structure for a wine of even greater complexity and breed? That said, the 2013 San Román from Bodegas Maurodos is really a fine example of the more modern style in Toro. (Drink between 2021-2045)