Oak, oak and oak. This Toro DO wine is dominated by, you probably guessed it, oak. Not too surprising, given the fact that the wine spends 24 months in French and American oak. What is more astonishing is the fact that the wine lacks the matter necessary to keep up with the prolonged contact with the wood. The more so given the fact that behind San Román there is a well-known name of the Ribera del Duero oenology: Mariano Garcia.
Son of a vineyard worker, Mariano Garcia was made winemaker at Bodegas Vega Sicilia, the most prestigious winery in Spain, in 1968, at the young age of 24. A role he successfully played for 30 years.
I’ve been thinking for a while if to write a post about this wine or not. At the end I decided to do it, because I find it an example of what can happen when a man that makes a great reputation for making a great wine: Vega Sicilia Unico, overly leverages his name.
Towards the end of the nineties Mariano Garcia teamed up with Javier Zaccagnini to create Aalto, not very far from Vega Sicilia itself in the Ribera del Duero DO. The results of this joint venture are praiseworthy, as the wines produce by Aalto are consistently very enjoyable.
Contemporarily, he partnered with his two sons to set up Family’s own wineries: Bodegas Mauro and Bodegas Y Viñedos Maurodos.
Mauro is located in Tudela de Duero, a region without any DO status, although Mariano Garcia tried unsuccessfully to get the Ribera del Duero DO expanded to include his winery.
The wines produced by Maurodos belong to the far less prestigious Toro DO region. Nevertheless, San Román sells at a hefty 40 CHF (at Globus). In the world of wine, when your name is prestigious, you don’t necessarily need the region where it gets produced to be prestigious as well to command a premium price.
Country: Spain
Region: Toro
Grapes: Tempranillo
Type: Red
Vintage: 2013
Producer: Bodegas Y Viñedos Maurodos
Price range: Premium (30-50 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 1/5