Elias Mora, Toro DO (Castilla y León, Spain) 2017

 This wine always catches me a bit off guard, and has managed to do so ever since the first vintage I tasted.  When I first saw the label, my guess that it was near the low end of this producer’s offerings, but was wrong about that.  Then, as a professor of political philosophy, I still couldn’t look at the label without thinking of René Descartes, but there’s no reason to think he has anything to do with the wine’s name, so that one is on me.  But then, taking the playing card image on the label seriously, I figured the name meant “discard” in English, but that made no sense either, as this is so good that it is obviously not made from discarded fruit or juice or wine lots.  So then I looked up the word in Spanish, only to learn that it does indeed mean “discard” in English, but it makes no sense that someone would choose what we could paraphrase, “Here’s something I chose to throw away” as a name for a premium wine.  So now I’m reduced to just guessing, which like all Ph.D.’s I hate to do unless I’m playing “Charades,” but here we go:  Based on the fact that the vineyard plot underlying this is north-facing, which might well have been a Northern Hemisphere disadvantage prior to climate  prior to climate change, I’m guessing that the fruit from these vines might once have been though unfit for fine wine but are now valued for the freshness and purity that the wine displays, and that “Discard” is a backhanded play on this irony.  But I’m sure you are tiring of my speculations, so let’s say this:  The wine shows wonderful purity and even delicacy, with very classy oak notes that are notable but subtle, followed by mid-palate sensations that begin with polished impressions but then display more power as the wine unfolds, showing lots of linear drive and more depth than its weight would have suggested it could muster.  That’s a surprise right there, and then the wine’s finish provides yet another surprise, with gracefulness and length that belies the power that preceded it.  In brief, this is beguiling wine, and delicious too.