Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1249
Spanish Wine Report W hen Paula Amor Freire and her partner Jesus Fernández decided to trade in the shipping business for the wine business in 2004, they had a clear vision of what they wanted to accomplish: produce the best wine in Toro, a traditional wine region with few innovations. But what they couldn't foresee is that wine expert José Peñín would give their fi rst vintage of their Tinto de Toro, the 2005 Rompesedas ("broken silk"), a rating of 91, blessing them with an extraordinary streak of beginner's luck. The couple built their winery, Coral Duoro, from the ground up, designing a pomegranate- colored modernist building on a small rise. Among their fi rst tasks: hiring Esteban Sanchez, whose background as both an oenologist and agri-engineer gave him a holistic approach to wine production. "We told Estaban we wanted to make the best wine in Toro and asked what he required to do that," said Freire during THE TASTING PANEL's visit to the winery. With Sanchez, they purchased their plots of family-owned land and century-old vines, and designed the winery to his specifi cations. The 1,200-square-meter building, designed by architect Francisco Somoza, houses 14 tanks for fermentation and storage, with a ca- pacity for 100,000 bottles. The inaugural 2005 vintage went on market in October 2008 (2006 will be released this year, and 2007 and 2008 are in barrel). The cellar holds some 500 new oak barrels (French, Hungarian and Ameri- can) that are switched out every year, making it one of the winery's biggest investments. The Peñín rating is, at the least, an auspicious return on their investment. While loyal to the Toro D.O., Freire and Fernández wanted to create a fresher, fruitier wine with wide appeal to a global market. Starting local—Rompesedas is distributed in four Spanish provinces, with two more pend- ing—their distribution strategy includes the U.K., Luxembourg, Switzerland, Japan, Ko- rea, Canada and the U.S. Freire aims to have 60 percent exported at a luxury price point that could sell on the U.S. market between $40 and $50 retail. The couple plans to keep production small so that they don't lose the tradition of the vineyard. Says Fernández, "We are not a fac- tory; we want to be more like artists." —L.B. Winery Spotlight: Coral Duoro S.L., Toro, Spain Coral Duoro winery in the Toro D.O. 42 / the tasting panel / june 2009 The winery's single of- fering, Rompesedas, is a Tinto de Toro. Winery owners Jesus Fernández (left) and Paula Amor Freire with Winemaker Estaban Sanchez.