Bodegas y Vinedos Maurodos, Cartago 2018
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98
OwenBargreen.com
2018 Bodega San Roman ‘Cartago Paraje del Pozo’ Toro- The mind-bending ‘Cartago Paraje del Pozo’ Toro comes is comprised of 90% Tinta de Toro and 10% other grape varieties, coming from an own-rooted, 45-year-old single vineyard. This is the inaugural vintage of this wine that shows very inky in the glass, this shows off amazing power with its massive dark and blue fruit profile. Pencil lead, and creme de violette notes combine with mocha, tar and iron with heady blue fruits on the palate. Finishing long with beautiful tension and viscosity, this is quite simply a masterpiece by San Roman. Drink 2023-2045.
This wine is already stupendously good — so striking in its excellence that I worry that it will make my already gaudy score look stingy when I revisit the wine years from now. For the sake of context, I see the similar high scores for comparably-priced wines from Bordeaux from the trio of vintages 2018 – 2019, and now huge scores again for “futures” offerings from 2022, and they make me wonder: How many wine lovers and collectors will pass on this because they think nothing from Spain could quite measure up to its French peers at this price level? My guess is that the number is high, but that it would plummet if more of the people in question were ever to taste this. Very dark and rich, with excellent aromatic and flavor expressiveness as well as complexity, it seems to show a different set of nuances with every sniff and sip. It continued to accomplish that for 48 hours without ever showing any tiring over time, even though it was completely convincing from the moment the cork was pulled. A longstanding piece of wisdom among generations of wine evaluators is that truly great wines are great at every stage of their development, and in my experience, showing greatness early on is much rarer than showing it with the benefit of — say — a decade in bottle. This wine is already there.
The single-vineyard red 2018 Cartago Paraje del Pozo feels young and energetic and comes through as quite tannic and still unapproachable, despite having been in bottle for one and a half years. It comes from a 50-year-old plot on very poor soils that delivered contained ripeness. 2028 was a cooler and rainier year with classical wines with good concentration and balance for the long haul. This had an extended élevage of 30 months in new and used oak barrels. This is a concentrated, ripe, powerful and oaky Tempranillo (or Tinta de Toro) in need of some more time in bottle. 3,745 bottles were filled in July 2021. Drink 2024-2032.
The 2018 Cartago, matured for 30 months in oak barrels, is a garnet red wine o!ering sour cherry and plum marmalade notes intertwined with hints of blood and wild herbs over an oak vanilla backdrop. Rich and dry, its velvety tannins are supple and complemented by a juicy palate. Intense, it prolongs the fruit notes for a lingering experience. This is a well-balanced Toro red.
The 2018 Cartago Paraje De Pozo bottling from Bodegas San Román hails from a single vineyard that is forty-five years of age. It is planted to a field blend that is ninety percent tempranillo, interspersed with other red grape varieties; it is farmed organically and incorporates some biodynamic principles as well. The wine is aged for three years in French oak casks, with a percentage of the casks new each vintage. The wine comes in at 14.5 percent alcohol and delivers a simply superb bouquet of cassis, sweet dark berries, cigar wrapper, coffee bean, a touch of grilled meats, a fine base of soil and a very refined framing of nutty oak. On the palate the wine is young, full-bodied and shows off outstanding mid-palate depth, with fine focus and grip, firm, chewy tannins and excellent balance on the long and nascently complex finish. This is a superb and impeccably balanced wine that is going to be stellar once it is ready to drink, but will demand plenty of bottle age to soften up its chassis of tannin. 2035-2080.
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Bodegas y Vinedos Maurodos, Cartago 2019
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93
View from the Cellar
The 2019 Cartago Paraje De Pozo is a single vineyard bottling from Bodegas San Román, with the vines now more than forty-five years of age. As I mentioned last year, it is planted to a field blend that is ninety percent tempranillo, interspersed with other red grape varieties and farmed organically. The Cartago Paraje De Pozo is raised for three years in French oak casks, with a percentage of the casks new each vintage. The 2019 version tips the scales at 14.5 percent alcohol and offers up a deep, ripe and complex nose of sweet dark berries, cassis, cigar ash, dark soil tones, coffee bean and smoky new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, broad-shouldered, full-bodied and nicely ripe, with a rock solid core of fruit, good soil undertow, firm, chewy tannins and fine length and grip on the long, well balanced and youthful finish. This is another excellent bottle in the making, but its extra year in cask seems to have given it a bit of backend wood tannin that will prolong its period of hibernation. 2036-2080.
John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024
A structured red, whose thick, creamy texture carries well-meshed flavors of black cherry compote, crème de cassis, Mediterranean macchia, expresso and graphite. Firm and focused, offering good integration and balance, this opens nicely in the class, with the chewy finish showing loamy earth and spice notes. Best from 2027 through 2034. – A.N.
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