San Román, Toro (Castilla y León, Spain) 2015

 This is a fantastic release from the uber-talented Garcia family’s outpost in Toro.  The richest and most “impressive” of the three vintages of this wine that I’ve been fortunate to taste, it shows a lovely aromatic wisp of woodsmoke, but from somebody’s else’s campfire, not one right under your nose.  Scents of ripe fruit are also evident, showing both red and black fruit tones along with suggestions of baking spices.  In palate profile, it offers medium-plus body with good density but no sense of heaviness, and much more flavor impact than sheer weight, with no hint at all of over-ripeness from a hot, dry year that could easily have produced that result.  Clearly based on extraordinary fruit sourced from an un-grafted single site with vine age of 45+ years, this is on the lavish side in terms of fruit that’s nicely counterbalanced by a well-measured dose of the finest oak, which lends extra grip and complexity.  By “well-measured,” I mean more specifically that the proportions of fruit and oak in the wine’s aftertaste are almost identical to when the wine first tips out of the glass and onto one’s tongue.  This is a very special wine made to improve for many years, but the fact is that it is already beautiful and easy to enjoy with food.