BODEGAS PINTIA

In the latter half of the 1990s, Vega-Sicilia owners the Álvarez family purchased Bodegas Pintia, where the grape of choice is Tempranillo (here known as Tinto de Toro). Located in northern Spain’s Toro region, Pintia sits on rich clay at a lofty altitude the Álvarez clan can relate to.

The difference from their home patch in Ribera del Duero is in the temperature, which can really pump in Toro, especially at the height of summer. Harnessing a helping of refinement to the resulting intensity is the challenge here, one partially met by picking into very small crates that are immediately chilled for 12 hours, followed by four days of cold maceration. Big, ripe, concentrated wines, then, that age their way into elegance.