Finca Nueva Blanco 2016

Crítica

A few days before closing this report, I received an unlabeled bottle from Antony Terryn with a note (this time an email!); it was a new wine that he had been trying to produce for seven years. But he started harvesting the grapes for his 2015s and forgot to even tell me the vintage, name or anything. I finally got the information in between picking and fermenting grapes. It's from the 2012 vintage and from a single vineyard called La Cuesta de las Musas (which will be the name), a vineyard with very fine sand and plenty of limestone underneath, with two sectors; one was planted 60 years ago, while the older vines are over a century old. There are five hectares in total and he produced eight to ten barrels from those grapes. The wine matured in new French barriques for 22 months and in the end he selected four barrels that were blended and bottled in August 2015, a few days before I tasted it. Surprisingly enough, there are very few traces of oak for such extended élevage and the wine feels a little closed, serious and austere, with a sense of harmony and inner strength that is remarkable. Here, the rare combination of power and elegance is at its best. There is concentration, tannins and strength, but there's also balance and poise. This has all the components for a long aging in bottle, and what is more, the wine is unmistakably Toro. It's an elegant thoroughbred with fury, but looking light on its feet. Superb! 1,200 bottles produced.