2006 Quinta de la Quietud Toro
 
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Jean-Francois Hebrard and 3.98 out of 5 stars!
'04 & '05 Vintage Reviews:

***** Quinta de la Quietud Toro
This wine was outstanding. It will go well with many dishes ranging from salmon to pork tenderloin. It also has enough body to stand up on its own as an after work apertif, but buyer beware, you might find yourself drinking the whole bottle in one sitting!
-- Peter from Collingswood, NJ

***** Splendid Toro
This is the best wine I've had from Wine Access and one of the most interesting expressions of Tempranillo I've tasted (and I'm still drinking 1970 Rioja Gran Reservas). As soon as I tried it I went back to the website to buy more, but, alas, the wine was sold out.
-- James from Exeter, NH

***** No Brainer
Absolute steal for under $25. Very versatile red but we usually polish off the bottle before we can pair it with too many foods. It's just delicious.
-- Paul from Atlanta, GA

***** Great balance of depth and finesse
Dec. 09 - just opened our first bottle of Quinta and it was a delight. Opened and let breathe for one hour. Cherry and wood on the nose. Very deep ruby color testified to the firm structure. Notes of cherry, black fruit and licorice on the palate. This is one outstanding tempranillo! Fully drinkable and enjoyable now - there was a bit of tannin in the finish indicating could even improve over the next few years, if you can manage to hold without drinking. A real winner!
-- Mitch from Fairfax, VA

***** Great Value
This wine was a great treat like most Spanish wines today. Keep the deals from Spain coming.
-- Joseph from Fort Lauderdale, FL

The Tempranillo Whipsaw

There were plenty of raised eyebrows at that café in Chateauneuf when the news first spread. Jean-Francois Hebrard, widely considered to be the most talented young enologist in the Rhone, had received a single phone call, taken a short trip, and returned only to pack up his bags. The guy who had spent years at the side of Vernay in Condrieu, Gerin in Cote Rotie, and Sabon at 100pt La Janasse in Chateauneuf, was moving to Spain -- and no one seemed to know why.

Over the next six months, one by one, his star-studded client list would make their way south, if only to understand what had come over Hebrard. By then, all knew the call had come from Jean-Francois's college friend, the brilliant Javier Ausas, now the regisseur at Vega Sicilia, Spain's answer to Lafite Rothschild. Hebrard followed Ausas's lead, but it wouldn't be until guys like Combier, Sabon, Fischer and Cheze eyeballed that improbable sandy patch, littered with 70-year-old Tempranillo bush plants, that the greatest winegrowers of the Rhone understood what had so seduced Hebrard.

Just three years later, the cat was out of the bag. Quietud was the star of Toro, earning 93pts from the critics for the luscious 2004, and a spot on the shortlist for "Spanish Wine of the Year." Hebrard's star was rising faster than even he had anticipated, something that wasn't lost on the winegrowers back home.

And that should have been the beginning of one of the greatest Spanish wine stories ever written. And it probably would have been had European financiers not played Russian roulette with the greatest bodegas of Toro, Rioja and Ribero del Duero. First the bankers dumped billions into Spain, before realizing that most of those zeros would never be repaid -- then they slyly turned off the euro faucet. Spain's internal economy crumbled, and even the ingenious work being done by Hebrard at Quinta de la Quietud felt the pinch.

We featured both the powerhouse 2004 and beautifully chiseled 2005 Quinta de la Quietud on WineAccess in the last couple of years. Each wine took the house down, setting off a Spanish rating frenzy the likes of which have never been seen on our little website. Ninety-seven buyers rated Hebrard's world class, ancient vine Quinta de la Quietud a full 5-stars -- many wondering how a bottle of this pedigree was being offered at a price that looked far more like simple Cote du Rhone Villages than Chateauneuf-du-Pape. In 2006, with Spain's economy tinkering, on the brink of collapse, Jean-Francois Hebrard told us he did the only thing he could possibly do, given the circumstances. He upped the ante.

Our only criticism of previous vintages of Quinta de la Quietud has been with the American oak treatment. Given the almost savage richness and intensity of this voluminous, wild berry Tempranillo, we saw no reason to pepper the wine with rusticity. It took the better part of 4 years for Jean-Francois to come to the same conclusion, but finally in 2006, he went back to his roots, vinifying this glorious red only in Francois Freres cooperage, a third of which was new.

Deep purple-black in color. Absolutely explosive aromas of raspberry preserves, earth, sweet herbs and requisite pine needle, the attack is massive, filled with dark red fruits, warm and voluminous. We're not sure if it's the vintage or the oak, but this 2006 is far sleeker and more silky than past releases -- more clearly defined, long, and chiseled.
Tasting Notes

2006 Quinta de la Quietud Toro
"Deep purple to the edge. Explosive aromas of raspberry jam, sweet herbs and pine needles. Rich, warm and voluminous on the attack, packed with raspberry/dark plum sumptuousness, sleek and silky. Beautiful high-toned finish, classically structured. Drink now for its primary fruit power or age for up to a decade -- when the old vine show will really begin."
-- WineAccess Travel Log

*Important Shipping Information
    • Orders will begin shipping the week of June 18, 2012.
    • You will be provided with the exact shipment date during checkout.

By law, wine may ONLY be shipped to the following states: AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, KS, LA, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, NH, NM, NV, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.