Teso La Monja named Spanish Winery of the Year 2013

Teso La Monja, the Eguren Family's Toro property, has been awarded the Penin Guide 2013 "Best Winery of the Year" award.  Here's what they said...

"October 26, 2012, Madrid. - The Penin Guide 2013 has awarded 'Teso La Monja'- 'Best Winery of the Year', during the award ceremony held last Friday in Madrid which closed “Peñín XIII, a presentation of the Best Wines of Spain”. The award honors the winery for having placed three of its wines - 'Victorino', 'Alabaster' and 'Teso La Monja'-on the podium of exceptional wines of Spain, with a score above 95 points.
The award is, according to the Penin Guide, "a recognition of the merit of maintaining  high quality in a variety of brands."  'Teso La Monja' was competing alongside, Bodegas Barbadillo (DO Jerez), Bodegas Artadi (DOCa. Rioja) and Sierra Cantabria (DOCa Rioja) another of the Eguren Family’s wineries

Founded in 2007, 'Teso La Monja' represents a new era for the Eguren Family.  Having arrived in the area of Toro 15 years ago with Numanthia Termes, the family of grape growers have now established and positioned their new wines, “Romancio, Almirez, Victorino, Alabaster and new born Teso La Monja on the podium of the most representative wines from our country” says Peñín

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According to the editorial team of the Penin Guide, "The winery's skill is such, that even in difficult vintages, they are able to position their wines as the most rated of the appellation, showing a path of territorial identification and understanding of vineyard.  This serves as an example for new creators coming to Toro, seeking to capture the expressiveness and authenticity of the Tinta de Toro variety."

Loire 2012 Harvest Report

A few notes from the Loire on the just harvested 2012 vintage from Charles Sydney, Loire resident and specialist....

"The 2012 harvest is pretty well over, with just a few parcelles of chenin hanging out in the Layon, waiting for the weather to go cold, sunny and windy (the forecast is good), in which case we may get some stickies this year after all. Keep praying!

Otherwise :

Dry whites - sauvignon & Muscadet : as per, quality is good to fantastic in Muscadet, Touraine, Sancerre & Pouilly Fumé, with the Muscadets promising to be among the best ever. Quantities are way down in Muscadet and Touraine but look fine in Sancerre & Pouilly.

Muscadet's yields are a problem and compounded by the appellation going from 13000 hectares to under 8000 as growers have ripped up or abandoned 40% of the vineyards since the 2008 frosts as bulk prices have been way below production costs. Luckily the serious single estates have survived so far. Hopefully you'll be able to use the quality of the vintage to really put across to the consumer just how attractive this appellation can be.

Reds - cabernet franc : starting 2 weeks later than average (and a month later than last year) was always going to be a gamble, so the rain end September that helped ripen the sauvignons were less of a blessing here, especially as the last couple of weeks have seen about 5 inches of rain. That said, there's been hardly any rot until this week (picking is now effectively over) so although there's obviously been some concentration lost as growers waited for ripeness, this should be a pretty and easy-drinking vintage for the cab francs.

Reds - pinots : Our guys in Sancerre and over in St Pourçain are pretty ecstatic about quality, with lovely ripeness - and the concentration that comes with low yields. 

Chenin Blanc - Vouvray, Montlouis & the Anjou : First things first : there won't be any great moelleux this year - but growers have stocks of the truly great 2010 and 2011 vintages, so that's not a problem.

For dry and off-dry chenins, things are looking surprisingly good, though again, yields are down. In Vouvray and Montlouis the juice is tasting fresh, clean and nicely aromatic. Less concentration than 2009 and 2010 especially, but this should make for a pretty, consumer-friendly vintage - and growers like Jacky Blot, who really did a serious 'tri' at harvest should make some super 'secs'..

Meanwhile, the hand-picked chenins of the Anjou are promising to be really lovely, with some real ripeness and concentration.

The proof of the pudding is of course in the eating, and we're about to start tasting with our growers all along the Loire. We expect to send you a 'real' vintage report early in the New Year.

I've attached some photos taken over the last 2 weeks of the harvest....

Enjoy!

Charles

23rd October -  Coteaux du Layon from the Sky...

The sorting table in the vines at Jacky Blot's Taille aux Loups in Montlouis

Stephane Branchereau's vines at Domaine des Forges

A report on the 2012 vintage on the Tuscan Coast

HARVEST REPORT 2012 ON THE TUSCAN COAST

Consultant oneologist and Duemani owner, Luca d'Attoma, gives us the low-down on the 2012 vintage on the Tuscan Coast:

“The harvest was characterized by inhomogeneity of maturity and this not be blamed only on the climate during August but also thanks to the irregular fruit set at the end of May, which came about as a result of sudden drops in temperature and strong humidity. This has resulted in different maturation of vines in the same vineyard.  To make high quality wines there had to be at least three stages of harvest.  We are missing from 20% to 30% in volume of wine, not so much thanks to the Summer heat but more for the drought in the Winter and Spring.  A heatwave in August was followed by an important lowering of the temperature at the beginning of September, nights were cool at about 15 ° - this stimulated and awakened the plants’ vitality and spurred on the ripening of the grapes.  On the coast we harvested Merlot within the first half of September and Cabernet  started from the third week, with great results. Sangiovese in the most important areas such as Morellino were harvested from the first to the third week of September and here we will also have interesting wines suitable for long ageing.

The general health of grapes was very good. In the last days of September we had rain and strong moisture so it has been necessary to make a strict selection but the wines will be of an excellent level."