2021 Teso la Monja Alabaster Magnum

This top Spanish wine is produced by the Teso La Monja winery, an exclusive winery, one of the beautiful wineries of Hermanos Eguren . The Alabaster is now the full-fledged successor to the Termanthia (the EGUREN family sold the Numanthia and Termanthia vineyard to Luis Vutton, Hennesy Moet & Chandon - LVMH in 2007 and started a new project in the same year: Bodegas Teso la Monja). The EGUREN family consistently continues its tradition of care and quality. The grapes are picked exclusively by hand and collected in small boxes to avoid damage. The yield is only 9hl/ha, so extremely low. The wine matures for 18 months in new French oak. Harvested exclusively from vines with an average age of 100 years from the pre-phylloxera period, i.e. still original vines/ungrafted vines (own-rooted Vitis vinifera). The Alabster is a full aromatic wine. Plums, blackcurrants, cherries, minerals, a touch of mocha and beautiful tannins and a grand finale. This wine has enormous potential. The wine is only made in the top years.

The centenary vines used for Alabaster produced only (maximum) 11 hectoliters per hectare. Only 4,000 bottles were produced and a handful of magnums. This version is a 1.5 liter magnum.

ABOUT HARVEST TORO 2021

Early January 2021 has a very cold front and abundant snowfall (Filomena); and followed by very low temperatures down to -12ºC. The snow, together with the slow and gradual melting, ensures very good disinfection of the soil, increasing nitrification and a good increase in water reserves. The end of winter brings mild temperatures that give way to buds in the second week of April. On April 17 and 18, frosts of various factors occur, causing variable damage; in the oldest vineyards they reach 12 or 15%. Slow development in the vegetation until the end of April. Temperatures rise from mid-May, flowering begins in the first days of June and lasts until the middle of this month. During the flowering period there are storms and unstable temperatures that cause irregular fertilization in some vineyards, but which are not observed. attacks of mildew or other diseases. From June 16 there is a rise in temperature that accelerates the vegetative cycle and causes good cell multiplication. Total absence of rain during this period and temperatures during the first week of June are equal to or lower than average, with a maximum of 28 degrees. From mid-July, with a rise in temperatures, the vineyard cycle is reactivated. The veraison began the last week of July. The first days of August we find average temperatures and a total absence of rain. During the first days of September (rain varying depending on the zones) between 10-20 l/m2, which promotes balance in the different maturations: physiological, phenolic and aromatic. Perfect health and great balance in all parameters. Intermittent rainfall from September 14 to 16 forced the halt of the harvest, which will resume on September 21, without any impact on the quality of the bunches observed. From the end of September, temperatures drop significantly and there is no rain, completing the harvest of the youngest vineyards with excellent quality and a slightly higher quantity than expected.