San Román

The very classical 2021 San Román showcases the house style of ripe, concentrated and generously oaked reds made from Tempranillo (or Tinta de Toro) grapes but with the balance and poise to develop and integrate the oak with time in bottle. Furthermore, 2021 was a great vintage in the zone for them—cooler, with adequate rain and excellent balance between acidity, alcohol (14.5%) and structure. It matured in French oak barrels of different sizes and aged for 24 months. It has notes of black fruit, hints of graphite, licorice and ink and a medium to full-bodied palate with very fine, elegant and polished tannins. 120,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2023.

This time I also tasted two vintages of their flagship and eponymous wine, starting with the 2019 San Román, from a warm and dry vintage that resulted in an early harvest that started the 6th of September in San Román de Hornija. It comes from a selection of over 40-year-old ungrafted and head-pruned vines on stony soils with clay and limestone in different villages of the appellation. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in new and used 225- and 500-liter French and American oak barrels for 24 months. The wine feels quite marked by the élevage in oak, and the 14.5% alcohol seems to have extracted quite a lot of aromas and tannins from the barrels. It's warm and heady, ripe and voluptuous, with abundant but fine tannins and mellow acidity. 112,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2020.