2009 Francois Lurton y Dany et Michel Rolland Campo Eliseo Toro 750 ml

Profoundly concentrated and terrifically structured, this library release 2009 Campo Eliseo Toro is Spain’s answer to Napa’s richest Cabernets. “A mile deep and rich as Bill Gates,” raves Wine Enthusiast, pinning on 95 points and an “Editors’ Choice” commendation. The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator followed up with a pair of 93-point scores, as Parker’s publication declared it “an assiduously crafted, seductive Toro.” Deep in the plains outside Madrid, wine world legend Michel Rolland. His wife Dany, and Bordeaux vigneron François Lurton are putting on a master class in warm-climate winemaking, releasing bottles that stand alongside Numanthia and Vega Sicilia as among Spain’s most collectible wines. Marrying black-fruit plushness with Pauillac-like structure and muscle, this is their finest effort yet.

Having consulted for Marqués de Griñón since the 1980s, Flying Winemaker Michel Rolland knew Spain and the tremendous vinicultural potential the country held. When he and François Lurton, a fellow renowned Bordeaux enologist, resolved to start a winery there in the late 1990s, they already had their destination in mind: Toro.
 
Toro means “bull” and the name fits: It’s a region famed for wines of density, brawn, and rustic power. Old Spanish vintners used to joke that Toro’s wines are meant to be eaten with a knife and fork. While neighboring appellation Ribera del Duero has grabbed more headlines, Toro arguably has a more extreme climate and older vineyards. Rolland and Lurton’s task was to temper all that bullish potency with structure and precision.
 
2009 was a warm vintage, meaning ripeness shot off the charts. Calling the Campo Eliseo Toro an “Editor’s Choice,” Wine Enthusiast awarded 95 points, writing: “In the mouth, this is loamy, chewy, a mile deep and rich as Bill Gates… So smooth, yet bullish.”  980 cases made. Drink now or stash away until 2024.