Victorino 2018 Magnum

I tasted two vintages of the cuvée called Victorino, including the 2018 Victorino, a year with fewer bunches of larger grapes that resulted in very balanced wines, wines with good structure, ripe tannins and deep color. This was selected from ungrafted Tinta de Toro vines that fermented destemmed with their own selection of yeasts and matured in new French oak barrels for 20 months. This is a little lighter and has hints of blue flowers, a more vibrant palate and grainier tannins. 2018 and 2019 are very different years, and the 2018s are more fluid but also have more nerve and are likely to develop for a longer time in bottle. This has the advantage of one more year in bottle, which has helped to integrate the oak. Despite the cooler and wetter year, the grapes were very healthy, unlike in Rioja where they had to sort and select. 40,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2020.