Wine Advisor
Numanthia, Numanthia 2001
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The flagship offering, the 2001 Numanthia, is fashioned from a 70-100 year old Tinta de Toro vineyard planted at a 2300 foot elevation. After a 28 day maceration, the wine undergoes malolactic in barrel, is aged 19 months in new French oak, and is bottled without fining or filtration. The spectacular, opaque purple-colored 2001 offers an explosive nose of melted licorice, barbecue smoke, blackberries, creme de cassis, camphor, and graphite. Full-bodied with gorgeously rich, concentrated fruit, a layered texture, and tremendous purity, it can be drunk young, but should hit its prime in 1-2 years, and last for 10-15. Importer: Jorge Ordonez, Fine Estates from Spain, Dedham, MA; tel. (781) 461-5767
About the Producer
Bodega Numanthia is an estate in the Toro region of northwest Spain, making three high-end red wines wines solely from the Tinta de Toro grape (aka Tempranillo). It is credited with playing a key role bringing the region into the international spotlight. The vines are distributed across numerous small plots on dry soils on either side of the Duero around the town of Toro. Bodega Numanthia estate vineyards cover 83 hectares (205 acres), although the winery sources from a total of 200 hectares (490 acres) across the region. The climate is continental with hot, dry days and cool nights. Most of the vines are at least 50 years old, with several parcels even older again, on ungrafted rootstocks. Numanthia's top wine, Termanthia, is regularly made from a single five-hectare (11-acre) parcel of 120-year-old vines. The grapes are crushed by foot, fermented in oak vats and the wine is aged in what is sometimes refered to as 200 percent new French oak (after an initial period in new oak, the wine is racked into another, unused new oak barrel). Numanthia's standard wine has 18 months aging in French oak barriques while Termes, the entry-level label, is made from younger vines (generally still over 30 years old) and aged in mainly seasoned and some new French oak. The estate was founded in 1998 by the Eguren family and US-based Spanish wine importer Jorge Ordoñez when there were only seven estates in the region. It has been owned by LVMH since 2008. Through its wine group, Sierra Cantabria, the Eguren family later established the Toro-based Teso la Monja range.
