Wine Advisor
Numanthia, Termanthia 2012
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
The limited, top of the range 2012 Termanthia is a single-vineyard Tempranillo from a plot of vines planted some 120 years ago. The bunches are hand-destemmed and then foot-trodden, and fermented in oak vats. The wine spends six months in new French oak barrels until malolactic is completed and then transferred to another set of brand new barrels for a further 18 months. The aromas are dominated by the élevage, with plenty of oak, smoke and peat, with something organic and earthy, even with some hints of Islay whiskey. If you look hard enough, there are some heady aromas of violets and blueberries underneath. The palate is quite straight within its full size and power, with good freshness, marked acidity, more elegance than the Numanthia and also better drinkability. Even with 200% oak, there is fruit here that talks about the quality, natural concentration and power of the grapes used, which are able to stand such brutal treatment. The new winemaker tells me the 2014 will only have around 80% new oak, and I'm looking forward to tasting the bottled wine, as I believe you could make an amazing wine with these grapes, and a softer hand in the vinification and aging. Around 5,000 bottles are produced per vintage.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Opaque ruby. A deeply perfumed bouquet evokes ripe dark fruit, violet, licorice, pipe tobacco and smoky vanillin oak, and a zesty mineral flourish adds energetic lift. Sweet and seamless on the palate, offering powerful black currant, cherry-vanilla and floral pastille flavors that become livelier as the wine stretches out. Rich yet surprisingly graceful, showing zero excess fat and no rough edges on a strikingly long, sappy finish, where building tannins add framework and grip.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Opaque ruby. A deeply perfumed bouquet evokes ripe dark fruit, violet, licorice, pipe tobacco and smoky vanillin oak, and a zesty mineral flourish adds energetic lift. Sweet and seamless on the palate, offering powerful black currant, cherry-vanilla and floral pastille flavors that become livelier as the wine stretches out. Rich yet surprisingly graceful, showing zero excess fat and no rough edges on a strikingly long, sappy finish, where building tannins add framework and grip.
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.
