Toro Wine Guide: Grapes, Appellations & Producers

Tinta de Toro at full throttle

Soil: Sand, clay and stones on a high, dry plateau (600–800m) with brutal day-night swings.
Style: Dense, powerful, high-alcohol reds from Tinta de Toro (the local Tempranillo) — dark fruit, firm structure.
Top sites: Tinta de Toro ripens to great power here; the best balance the heat with altitude-driven freshness.
Vintages: 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021
Producers: San Román (Maurodos)

Tip · Toro is Tempranillo with the volume turned up — big, ageworthy and great value.

Value pick

Maurodos "San Román" · ~$30

Polished, powerful Toro with depth and real refinement — benchmark value.

Collector pick

Numanthia "Termanthia" · ~$200 · 2018

Ungrafted old-vine Toro — concentrated, age-worthy and famous.

Ungrafted pre-phylloxera vines

Soil: Deep sandy soils where phylloxera could not survive — home to gnarled, century-old bush vines.
Style: Perfumed, deep reds from ancient ungrafted vines — concentration with surprising lift.
Top sites: The sandy sites preserved pre-phylloxera, own-rooted vines — a living link to 19th-century viticulture.
Vintages: 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Producers: Bodega CyanRejadorada

Tip · Some of Europe’s oldest working vines grow on Toro’s phylloxera-proof sands.

Value pick

Bodega Cyan "Prestigio" · ~$35

Old-vine Tinta de Toro — concentrated yet perfumed.

Collector pick

Teso La Monja "Alabaster" · ~$190 · 2017

Cult old-vine Toro of remarkable depth and polish.