Numanthia Tasting at Wine Watch with winemaker Lucas Lowi

You give the appearance
Of one widely travelled
I'll bet you've seen
Things in your time
So sit down beside me
And tell me your story
If you think
You'll like yesterday's wine
Yesterday's wine
We're yesterday's wine
Aging with time
Like yesterday's wine
-Willie Nelson, Yesterday’s Wine

We have a SOLD OUT tasting next week for Ribera Del Douro, Rioja and Toro event and to follow up this study in Spanish wines we will be hosting the Director of Bodega Numanthia Lucas Lowi to a special tasting of this groundbreaking winery from Toro the following week and we still have a few seats remaining for this event but don’t wait too long to respond there are only 16 spaces available for this event.

Bodegas Numanthia was the first of the new era of wineries from this ancient wine producing region of Northern Spain.  The wines of Spain have long been one of the best values in the world of fine wine but today the “Cult Wines” from Spain have provided serious wine collectors with (100 Point) wines like Bodegas Numanthia Termanthia for a fraction of the cost of a perfect wine from Napa Valley or Bordeaux.  If you like big reds the wines from Toro are little monsters.  Taming the tannins was the hardest thing for the new generation of winemakers from Toro and today they are making the best wines in the history of this ancient wine growing region. 

Join us was we welcome the director of Bodegas Numanthia for a special tasting of the three wines produced at the Bodegas as well as a few older vintages to show just how well these wines can age.  There are only 16 spaces available for this tasting and the fee for this event is $95 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Bodega Numanthia Tasting at Wine Watch with Lucas Lowi
Wednesday,  April 19
7:30 PM

Bodega Numanthia Termes 2013
Price: $27.00       Sale $23.76          Case $276

(90 Points) "The 2013 Termes, from a slow ripening, cold and wet vintage, is pure Tinta de Toro (aka Tempranillo) from a number of 30- to 50-year-old vineyards in the villages of Valdefinjas, Morales de Toro, Toro, Venialbo and El Pego at an average of 700 meters altitude on sandy and stony soils. The destemmed grapes underwent a cold soak before fermenting and a post-fermentative maceration of 21 days. The wine aged in French oak barrels for 14 months with rackings every four months. The vintage provided conditions for fresher wines, and this Termes, harvested from October, has good acidity and a lively palate, showcasing the vintage. The nose has nicely integrated oak and a core of red and black fruit, quite harmonious. The palate is medium-bodied, with fine tannins and moderate acidity, but with a sense of freshness. There was less Numanthia produced in 2013, so part of the grapes that usually go to Numanthia is in this Termes. " The Wine Advocate

Bodega Numanthia Numanthia 2012
Price: $45.00       Sale $39.60          Case $459

(92 points) The eponymous 2012 Numanthia is sourced from vineyards ranging from 60 to 100 years of age across the Toro appellation (they have around 100 hectares of vineyards... spread across 100 separate plots!). The wine matured in brand new oak barrels for 22 months. The aromas are mostly oak related with some toasted sesame seeds, sweet vanilla and cinnamon, some licorice and chocolate, and a core of very ripe black fruit. The oak is obviously of very good quality, but at the moment it dominates the wine and with time what emerges is still toffee, smoke and coal. The palate reveals a very young wine that is dense, tremendous, with high dry extract, concentrated, powerful, and full of dusty tannins and oak-related flavors. This beast needs a good couple of years to be tamed down by the bottle. This is a bodybuilder of a Toro -- oaky and highly extracted in its style. (LG) (10/2015)  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Bodega Numanthia Numanthia 2010 (1.5L)
Price: $150.00    Sale $132.00       Case $1530

(94 Points) "The 2010 Numanthia comes from a cooler vintage than the 2009 – a season when Manuel Louzada told me that he had to wear a pullover in the vineyard during picking! It is aged for 21 months in new French oak. The bouquet demonstrates more fruit concentration and clarity than the 2009, the 0.5% less alcohol making a tangible difference. The aromatics are more Medoc-like than the 2009. The palate is full-bodied with mouth-gripping tannins, yet it has a silky smooth texture. There is real attack on the mid-palate, perhaps a little more vigor and tension with hints of graphite and sous-bois towards the strict finish. This is due to be launched in September 2013 and should be at the top of any Toro-lovers’ list – maybe even above Termanthia? Drink 2018-2028+." The Wine Advocate

Bodega Numanthia Numanthia Toro 2009 (1.5L)
NA

(92 Points) "The 2009 Numanthia comes from La Jara, El Pego and Vanialbo from 60- to 100-year-old vines and it is matured for 21 months in new French oak. It has a rounded, generous bouquet of raspberry coulis, wild strawberry and vanilla pod that is well-defined and not over-powering. The palate is medium-bodied with a spicy, elegant entry. The tannins are quite fine and lend the 2009 exceptional symmetry and focus. There is a dash of white pepper and graphite underpinning the dark berry fruit, with good structure towards the opulent, hedonistic and ebullient finish. Drink 2015-2025. " The Wine Advocate

Bodega Numanthia Termanthia Toro 2012
Price: $270.00    Sale $237.60       Case $2754

(95 Points) "Dense and polished, this red is muscular yet balanced, with firm, well-integrated tannins and lively acidity supporting rich flavors of blackberry, cocoa, licorice and mineral. Monolithic now, but has real depth. Best from 2018 through 2028. " Wine Spectator

2010 Numanthia Termanthia Toro
Price: $240.75    Your Price: $211.86
Quantity in Stock: 11

2010 Numanthia Termanthia Toro Magnum
Price: $675.00    Your Price: $594.00
Quantity in Stock: 2

This is from 100+ year vines and is a bottle that you can probably age for just as long, the bottle is 3 pounds they are looking to make it lighter and this wine is another level of big. An array of cherry liqueur like fruit, exotic spices, raspberry coulis, cinnamon with espresso, complex bouquet of aromas, violet floral notes. Big and chewy with an array of thick juicy fruit zesty spice and a long finish with big round tannins very ripe and balanced.  Finish 55+  KILLER

2006 Numanthia Termanthia Toro
Price: $311.75    Sale $274.34

(95 Points) "This red is so thick and rich it's almost oily in texture, with exotic flavors of black fruit, game, dried herb and hoisin. Muscular tannins keep this structured, but give way to floral and graphite notes on the finish. A powerful wine with modern structure and distinctive character. Best from 2011 through 2020. 530 cases made."     Wine Spectator

Menu
Pata Negra, Charcuterie and Selection of Cheese: Manchego, Cabrales, Idiazabal
Short Rib Empanadas with Mole Sauce
Chocolate Covered Bacon

There are only 16 spaces available for this tasting and the fee for this event is $95 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Biography - Lucas LÖWI
Estate Director of Bodega Numanthia

Lucas's passion and immersion into the wine world has always been a family affair: he was born in Mendoza, Argentina, at the foothills of the Andes Mountains, surrounded by vineyards and familiar with vines cultivated in extreme weather conditions.

Lucas obtained an MBA from IAE Business School in Buenos Aires, where he graduated with honors in 2014. He started his career in the wine industry when he joined the Peñaflor Group in 2007 as Latin America and Africa Area Manager. In 2007 Lucas joined Moet Hennessy, where he served as Export Manager of Terrazas de los Andes and Cheval des Andes until 2011, when he was appointed Business Development Senior Manager within Moët Hennessy Estates & Wines, focusing on the Latin America region for the brands Terrazas de los Andes, Cheval des Andes, Bodega Numanthia, Cloudy Bay, Cape Mentelle, Newton Vineyard and Boroli.

After having devoted himself to the world of wine for the past ten years, Lucas begins a new stage with the great challenge of directing Bodega Numanthia, which has a unique heritage of ungrafted vineyards over 100 years old. These vines of Tinta de Toro tenaciously resisted the extreme climate of the area and the phylloxera plague that swept across Europe in the nineteenth century.

As Director of Bodega Numanthia Lucas seeks to preserve its heritage, to offer wines of great intensity and elegance and to make the two wines of the portfolio, Numanthia and Termanthia, become the icons of Spanish wines in the world.

A bit about Numanthia:

Numanthia is situated in north western Spain's Castilla y León region, close to the Portuguese border. The heart of the region and home to the vineyards is Toro, a region of long standing winemaking tradition going back to ancient Roman times. It is crossed by the Río Duero, which also links such great wine-producing areas as Ribera del Duero, Rueda, and the Porto region of Portugal.

The name of the estate evokes the city of Numancia, renowned in antiquity for its resistance to Roman occupation. Assailed by Scipion's legion in 134 BC, the inhabitants of Numancia resisted heroically and preferred to die rather than surrender.

Numancia thus stands for Tenacity & Resistance, also characteristic of the Toro vineyards, which have survived both extreme climatic conditions and the ravages of phylloxera.

During the Middle Ages, wines from Toro were enjoyed all over Spain, and were even taken on board Spanish fleets to the New World.

The Toro DO (Denominacion de Origen, a set of national laws that outline and regulate delimited regional and site-specific wine-growing appellations) was created in 1987 with just four wineries. Now, in the Toro DO, there are over forty wineries and over 1200 registered wine growers, and 5,500 hectares (14,000 acres) currently under vine – one third of Napa's 43,000 acres.

The Numanthia estate is situated at Valdefinjas, a small village of 100 in the region of Toro. Numanthia was founded in 1998 by the Eguren family, native of Rioja, with the sole aim of producing the best wine from Toro.

Toro is a place of long-standing wine-making traditions, as the vineyards go back to ancient Roman times.

The best soils for viticulture are composed of very sandy loams on the surface, with moisture-retaining clay below. The roots can thus easily work their way down to cooler depths that contain moisture and nutrition that are seriously lacking in such arid conditions on the surface. This type of soil, and the hot summer, produces ideal ripening conditions for grapes. The diversity of local soil composition adds to the wines' complexity: for example, vines whose soils have higher clay content will show greater fruit intensity, whilst those on sandy and gravelly soils will have more body and structure.

The Toro meso-climate is continental with an oceanic influence. With an average rainfall of only nine-to-12 inches (350 to 400 mm) per year, the region is very dry and at the limit of what is possible for non-irrigated vines. These could not survive without the humidity retained in the layers of clay in the sub-soil. The summer months are hot by day and cool by night, with thermal variations that are often greater than 20°C (68°F). Winter months are very cold. These extreme conditions produce grapes of exceptional quality.

Toro wines are made from a single grape variety specific to the region called "Tinta de Toro" - which is part of the Tempranillo family and is a pre-phylloxeran massal selection that is specific to this region. In Toro they believe this grape may be Spain's original variety, with Tempranillo in Rioja having sprung from it. Tinta de Toro is one of the darkest of all red grapes.

In the sandy soils of the region, "Tinta de Toro" is resistant to Phylloxera – one of the only places in Europe to have survived the blight. What is extremely rare in Europe is for these vines to be ungrafted and to have naturally resisted Phylloxera for over 140 years.

Numanthia is a patchwork of over 200 tiny plots (pagos) at average altitude of 2,300 feet. These are low density vineyards that survive without irrigation. The winery owns 121 acres close to the village of Valdefinjas, in Toro (south of Zamora) among which:

- 50 of those acres host vines that are aged 70 -100 years.

- an exceptional plot of 12 acres in Argujillo named Teso los Carriles, with vines over 120 years old; the vineyard’s name in rough translation is "Road on the Hill". This is where the grapes for the Termanthia wine are grown.

The foundation of the Numanthia range is the production and selection of the best grapes from the Toro terroir. Grapes from low-yielding old vines - many 50 years and older - are hand-picked at optimal ripeness and concentration.

Winemaking then consists of extracting their full potential, particularly the intense fruit flavors that are typical of the Tinta de Toro grape, as well as structure and elegance.

This approach is common to the all wines produced, each having its own particular style.

The Termanthia comes from one of the only pre-phylloxera vineyards in Europe, and is approximately 120 years old. The grapes are hand de-stemmed, one berry at a time, crushed by foot and fermented in a traditional oak container.

Numanthia - Termes

Termes shows Toro's quintessential fruit: Ripe but fresh, with velvety texture and lively structure, this wine leaves a general impression of balance and elegance.

Numanthia - Numanthia

Numanthia is the estate’s signature wine and uses the best grapes from the appellation. The winemakers aim to reveal and magnify the natural quality of fruit harvested at perfect maturity. The result is glorious fruit flavours and very complex aromas. Solidly built, with tannins that are both clear-cut and well integrated, Numanthia shows both power and precision.

Numanthia - Termanthia

The award winning Termanthia is the ultimate expression of the best of vineyard plots in Toro with vines that over 120 years old and at an altitude of 800 meters. The hyper-concentrated fruit produces considerable aromatic complexity and shows tremendous power on the palate with plenty of fleshy roundness and as much elegance and precision as it does intensity. This is a wine that will keep very well, gaining even more complexity in bottle.