Toro centres on Tinta de Toro, the local name for its native red variety. Its vineyards lie between 620 and 870 metres on Tertiary and Quaternary soils. Loose, well-draining sandy ground supports widespread cultivation of ungrafted vines. Tinta de Toro ripens early, allowing fresh, aromatic carbonic-maceration wines to be released in November of the harvest year. Toro also makes reds from Garnacha Tinta and whites from white varieties. The designation was first officially recognised on 26 May 1933. In 1990, Castilla y León launched a clonal and sanitary selection plan to rescue and multiply Tinta de Toro.
Elsewhere in Duero & León
Continue through the region
- Bierzo17 producersMencía is Bierzo's main red grape and is associated with spicy, medium-bodied wines. Other permitted varieties include Garnacha Tintorera, Godello, Doña Blanca and Palomino.
- Ribera del Duero53 producersRibera del Duero's high, dry plateau brings wide temperature swings and slow ripening, helping to shape concentrated, structured reds. Look for Tempranillo, also called Tinto Fino or Tinto del País.
- Rueda6 producersRueda sits on a high plain and is best known for Verdejo. For a clearer Verdejo signal, look for "Rueda Verdejo": it requires at least 85% of the grape.
Producer profiles
Producers in Toro
- Bodega Ecológica Luis SaavedraCertified organic Garnacha estate in Cenicientos, southwest Madrid, producing two red wines: an oak-aged blend and a natural single-vineyard wine from old vines.
- Bodega Elias MoraOld-vine Tinta de Toro estate in DO Toro, Castilla y León; organic farming, own-rooted bush vines up to 80 years old, minimal-intervention cellar.
- Bodega MarañonesOld-vine Garnacha Tinta from granite soils in the Sierra de Gredos, west of Madrid.
- Bodega NumanthiaBodega Numanthia makes dry red wines from Tinta de Toro on ungrafted vines up to 200 years old in the Toro appellation, Zamora.
Browse 6 more
- Bodegas BernabelevaSingle-parcel Garnacha from old-vine, high-altitude granite in the Gredos mountains southwest of Madrid.
- Bodegas FariñaThird-generation Toro estate that farmed ungrafted Tinta de Toro on phylloxera-resistant sandy soils, helped found the D.
- Bodegas IturriaBordeaux-trained Xavier Iturria founded this small Toro estate in 2009, farming ungrafted old vines at 700 metres and ageing Tinta de Toro in French oak to produce wines that run counter to the appellation's bulk-red reputation.
- Bodegas Ramon RamosA three-generation Toro DO producer in Venialbo, Zamora, working goblet-trained Tinta de Toro from sandy, stony soils.
- Bodegas Vatan S.LJorge Ordóñez's personal project in D.
- Finca Daniel RamosCebreros Garnacha from old bush trained vines, made by Daniel Ramos with native yeast, slow maceration and minimal sulfur.