"Alvar de Dios was born and raised in the region of Toro, but cut his winemaking teeth working in the much cooler Sierra de Gredos mountainous region outside of Madrid. He started thinking about making wine again in and around his native Toro in 2008, when he acquired his first vineyard parcels. His Toro bottling of Tio Uco made from tempranillo vines that range from forty to one hundred years of age, planted at an elevation of nine hundred meters above sea level and farmed organically (and in conversion to biodynamics). The bunches include some whole clusters in the native yeast fermentation and the wine is raised in a mix of thousand and three thousand liter foudres. The 2018 version comes in at 14.1 percent octane in this vintage and is a bit reductive when first opened, but with some coaxing, offers up scents of cherries, a nice range of spice tones, new leather, a bit of sweet stems, good soil signature and a topnote of cigar smoke. On the palate, the wine is bright, full-bodied, and impressively transparent (particularly for Toro), 52 with fine-grained tannins, good acids and a long, complex and gently warm finish. Given all of the powerful, extracted examples of Toro out there these days, this wine’s almost Rioja-like personality is quite a revelation. It is a young wine and needs plenty of cellaring to soften up its tannins, but it should prove to be a fine bottle in due course. If you decide to open one early on to check on it, be sure to give it plenty of time in decanter to unlock its reductive tendencies when first opened. Good juice. 2029-2055+."