“One of Spain’s leading consultants and winemakers.” – Wine Spectator

What’s better than “Taco Tuesday”??

TELMO TUESDAY! Or “Toro Tuesday”? Maybe that one hits better…

Branding debate aside, there’s no debating one thing.

Getting a 93-pointer for just $25 is a LOT better than paying $50. And let’s be honest, this would be KILLER with a good carnitas or al pastor taco.

Today it’s all about Telmo Rodríguez. He’s the Spanish Michel Rolland. What TRB is to California. In short, he’s a LEGEND. And if you don’t know, now ya know.

His ‘Gago’ Toro is the lead hitter, but we have a slew of sluggers lined up behind it, all found atop the store here. What’s in there? Well, one is a “cult wine in the making” and another, a “complete, serious” Verdejo. All mind-blowing. All incredibly limited.

Wine Spectator explains, “One of Spain’s top enologists, Rodriguez left La Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri, his family’s bodega in Rioja, to concentrate on new wine projects throughout the country. He has grapes growing and cuvées aging from Alicante to Navarra, Rueda to Málaga, but the project in Ribera del Duero interests him most. He’s working with decades-old vines to produce an estate-grown Tempranillo under the Valderiz label, plus making a few hundred cases of Tempranillo from even older sites; the latter wine, called Matallana.” (Hint: we have a vertical today!)

They continue the story, “Rodriguez is a friend and strong defender of Peter Sisseck, whose Dominio de Pingus…what matters is only what’s inside the bottle. Rodriguez pours another glass of one of his own wines, a fruity Tempranillo from the emerging region of Toro, and explains that though it will be nothing like Pingus, they both have roots deep in the Duero Valley, not in multicolored marketing brochures. ‘In the end, all I want them to say about us is, they went one step further,” he says.”

True, Gago may be no Pingus. Still, it’s a PHENOMENAL value for the money. It struts vibes that bring the cult reds of old school Toro like Numanthia’s Termanthia or Vega Sicilia’s Pintia to mind. Without the ostentatious pricing.

According to the importer, “A true maverick, Telmo Rodriguez grew up at the legendary Rioja estate of Remelluri, of his father, Jaime Rodriguez. He’s at the front of a movement to make modern wines using native, rediscovered varietals and traditional techniques from people and places that are on the verge of being lost to history. Telmo works with historians to review what people farmed 200 years ago and why it worked. Taking into account the effects of climate change, he plants vineyards in unique lots spread across small villages in Northwest Spain. He grafts old and rare varieties and replants vineyards following historic plantation density practices, some low, some high, and prefers head-trained bush vines. Organic farming is a priority, all manual and animal labor, zero mechanization, native yeast fermentations are common, minimal intervention “disappearing” winemaking style. He makes a true wine of character that speaks of its varietal, the place it is grown, often under extreme conditions. Making new wines from the old world. While he has no shortage of 100-pointers under his belt, Telmo does not make wines to align with scores or trends; he pursues world-class wines of high praise that represent the varietals, terroirs, traditions, and people of small villages in Spain.”

Made from old vine Tinta de Toro, a local clone of Tempranillo, Telmo has revitalized the Toro region by recharging its old vineyards and collaborating with the top vignerons for this wine. He sources from the best plots farmed by families who are long-time growers in the region. A testament to the work of a true nonconformist. Modern in style, with the feel of an ancient terroirs still evident within. Ripe, round, burly at times, elegantly balanced, full-bodied without being heavy, lithe, without being pretentious. It’s Tempranillo at a whole other level, for how much?!

When Robert Parker wrote “bargain hunters will go gaga over this spectacular bargain” for the inaugural 1998 vintage of Gago, was he looking into a crystal ball?

93 Points – Wine Advocate “The 2018 Gago was produced with Tinta de Toro (Tempranillo) from the villages of Argujillo, Villabuena del Puente and Morales de Toro in an atypical vintage in the zone, with lots of rain and a cool summer that delivered a generous crop of late-picked grapes between October 4th and 10th. It fermented in oak and stainless steel vats and matured for 14 months in oak foudres and 20% of the volume in barriques. The wines are always ripe here, and the challenge is to keep the freshness and achieve elegance. The wine is juicy, round, and full-bodied, with abundant, slightly grainy tannins. Drink 2021-2028.”