95-Points by Decanter & Andreas Larsson - Tasted.
Reserva Real was first produced in 1995 following the visit of Juan Carlos I King of Spain to the winery. This limited production blend comes from the slate soiled 4 hectare parcel of Les Arnes, from their Santa Margarida d'Agulladolç estate in Penedès. Inky dark purple core and hue. Still youthful aromatically but layered with plenty of stuffing like ripe cherry, plum, cassis, aniseed, tobacco, fine oak and some roasted coffee notes. The palate boasts a high concentration with fine proportions, refreshing and well-polished tannins, layers of inky dark fruit underlined by fine oak and a slight toastiness. Muscular and very long finish, still youthful but with all parts in place should develop tremendously well.
Blend: 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Cabernet Franc and 13% Merlot, aged for 18 months in New French oak barrels.
Finca Les Arnes
The Les Arnes vineyard is located at the foot of the coastal mountain range at 400 metres above sea level in the Costers de l’Anoia subzone and is presided over by a twelfth century romanesque chapel. This modest 4-hectares vineyard sits on Silurian slate soils from the Paleozoic Era – unique in the whole of the region. Deep, dark, and rocky, its well-drained soils are ideal for growing both the Cabernet and Merlot varieties.
The Les Arnes vineyard is located at the foot of the coastal mountain range at 400 metres above sea level in the Costers de l’Anoia subzone and is presided over by a twelfth century romanesque chapel. This modest 4-hectares vineyard sits on Silurian slate soils from the Paleozoic Era – unique in the whole of the region. Deep, dark, and rocky, its well-drained soils are ideal for growing both the Cabernet and Merlot varieties.
DO Penedès
With 2,700 years of winemaking history to its name, making it the oldest winemaking region in Catalonia, DO Penedès is a broad, open appellation that stretches across a swathe of land between the sea and mountains, midway between Barcelona and Tarragona. The influence of the sun and the Mediterranean Sea makes Penedès an exceptional region for winegrowing. Its unique nature is responsible for the diversity of DO Penedès wines, with the differences in climate, landscape, and soil resulting in a thousand flavours and aromas.
- Bodegas Torres is one of the largest wine producers in Spain, possibly the most-recognized Spanish wine brand, and one of the most visible wine producers in the world.
- History:
- The house was established in 1870 by Jaime Torres Vendrell. Torres gained much of its traction overseas in the 1940s when the French wine industry was unable to export because of German occupation during World War II.
- The United States became the major destination for Spanish wine. The brand had a further boost when its 1970 Torres Gran Coronas, made from young vines growing in Penédes, won at the World Wine Olympics, a blind tasting organized by Gault & Millau in 1979.
- The success of Torres is such that its vineyards have been visited by two generations of Spanish kings, and after several years in the top five, it was named the most admired wine brand in the world in a poll of hundreds of industry professionals.
- Bodegas Torres now makes and sells millions of cases of wine a year, up from hundreds of thousands in the mid-1990s, and exports to more than 140 countries. The company produces wine from both DOCa regions Rioja and Priorat, and in multiple DO regions including Penedès, Ribera del Duero and Rueda.
- Torres has had particular success with three wines: Viña del Sol, a white made from Parellada and Garnacha Blanco, Coronas, a blend of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon from Penèdes, and Sangre de Toro (bull's blood in Spanish), a blend of Carignan and Garnacha. Torres also now includes a rosé made from Tempranillo, Grenache, Syrah and Carignan, and a white made from Parellada and Grenache Blanc, under the Sangre de Toro label.
- The company has expanded outside of Spain, looking for new markets and opportunities. The fourth generation, Miguel Torres Carbó, established the Bodegas Miguel Torres winery in Chile in 1979. In 1982, Carbó's daughter Marimar Torres established Marimar Estate winery in California. Most recently, Torres ventured into China in 1997 where it established its own bottling and distribution plant to have more control over the sale of its wines in this burgeoning market. Torres continues to experiment with planting vineyards in China but has yet to produce any wine.
Torres "Reserva Real" DO Penedès, Catalunya, Spain 2017
Style
RedVintage
2017
Bin
15B + 121
