2018 Bodegas Pintia, Toro, Spain

A smooth, creamy red, medium- to full-bodied, though understated at first. Features flavors of mulled cherry, black plum reduction, cocoa powder and tar-tinged smoke that are seamlessly knit with fine-grained tannins, expanding slowly on a palate carried by balsamico acidity. Long, fragrant finish. Wine Spectator (2023)

Very deep purplish crimson. Sweet and chocolatey start but with good savoury grunt underneath. Good energy and rather dry on the finish. Very Spanish! Some freshness rescues it from over-richness. Drink 2023 - 2032jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com (February 2023)

The 2018 Pintia comes from a cooler and wetter vintage when the grapes were picked between September 20th and October 7th, and it fermented in their new fermentation room where they feel they can be more precise. The wine still has 15% alcohol, with a pH of 3.82 and 4.6 grams of acidity.It had a shorter élevage this year and matured for 10 months in French and 18% American oak barrels, 81% of them new. The nose is very expressive, with bright cherry fruit, and the wine is fresher than the norm in the region, with integrated alcohol and oak, reflecting a very cool year, floral and perfumed.The palate is medium-bodied and reveals very fine and elegant tannins. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Pintia. 251,512 bottles, 14,144 half-bottles, 6,543 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in April 2020. Drink 2023 - 2029Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate (January 2023)

Brooding but fresh nose, with tarry blackberries and fresh blue fruit. Iron, wet stones, violets and a hint of mocha, too. Full-bodied, mineral and broad on the palate with a stony feel, though not heavy at all. A really elegant, nuanced and extremely poised Pintia that you can enjoy now and for the next decade. A really eclectic Pintia showing more elegance and calculation.Drink or holdjames_suckling, jamessuckling_com (November 2022)