We were back to my dear Spain again !! love it !! We came by car of course and took time to see new areas and old repeat with some of them as introduction to my sons and our dog Rex ! I rented a small house in a off the beaten path country town that was just perfect ! I like to continue the saga of our new road warrior experiences even if now with less in our family, This post is on my latest road warrior tour of wonderful sublime Spain. Therefore, let me tell you about the Bodegas Fariña of Toro !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
I was only 46 km from here and on our road warrior tour first going to Salamanca on the way back stop at Toro. A bit of sightseeing but first was to visit my old reliable Bodegas Fariña wines of DO Toro! Its been a while wanting to visit them in person after meeting the Dad Manuel many neons ago in Florida! Now was met by his son Manu and guided to the tasting space where all were very nice and friendly on top of been Real Madrid CF fans lol !! A perfect stop indeed. Of course, the text is translated from their official webpage below.
A bit on the winery, Bodegas Fariña tell us that rises in Toro, in an environment of old vines, with an exterior construction inspired by traditional architecture consists of several buildings, one of which houses our museum of wine and art on its upper floor, in constant process of improvement, formed by a collection of old wine machinery and the exposure of abstract painting the Primero formed by the 40 finalist works of the latest edition of the National Painting Contest organized by the winery to choose, every year, the image of its first wine . On its lower floor, the building houses the parenting room. Located 5 meters deep, under rigorous temperature and humidity control, a park of more than 1,800 French and American oak barrels gives our breeding wines a part of their marked personality. In the same plant, there are 16,000 liters French oak tubs. Each one, who help achieve this goal. The facilities are completed with the elaboration and bottling naves, which have a modern technology, essential to achieve the quality criteria marked by the cellar. In addition to the winery in Toro, our Casaseca de las Chanas winery, under the quality march of “Vinos de la Tierra de Castilla y León” or wines from the earth of Castilla y León other ranges are made, including that of sweet wines Val de Reyes and the modern series Traditions.
A bit on the D O Toro tell us that despite having achieved international fame, the history of Toro wine is very old. Since the Roman era and over the 12-13C, Toro wines were precious marketing, enjoying even royal privileges. Thus, during the reign of Alfonso IX, Toro’s wine was the only foreign wine that was allowed to enter the city of Seville. It was also Toro’s wine that accompanied Christopher Columbus in his discovery of the Americas; To such an extent that the “La Pinta”, one of its three caravels, was thus baptized by the local Fray Diego de Deza ,confessor of queen Isabel I (the Catholic) as colloquial expression to refer to a drink of wine, still in use today. In 1987 the denomination of origin that covers sixteen municipal terms of the area was approved, belonging to the provinces of Zamora and Valladolid. Manuel Fariña was elected president of the First Regulatory Council of the D.O. Toro.
A bit on the grapes grown here are Tinta de Toro , the star grape of the region. Some studies consider that it could be the Spanish variety “Tempranillo” whose adaptation to the ground and the climate of the area, over the centuries, allows it to be considered as an native grape with its own characteristics. This variety occupies most of the 8,000 hectares welcomed to the D.O. Toro, Garnacha is the other tinta variety allowed in the D.O.Toro with less tannins and structure that the previous one was used in the past for the elaboration of rosé, Malvasía is the most abundant white variety of the area and proceeds, for the most part, from old vineyards with little production. It is a very old variety, from Greece and already used by the Romans , and Verdejo introduced in Castilla by the Mozarabes, its cultivation was abandoning over the years until it became the minority variety of the D.O. Toro.
And my wines over the years have been from Bodega Fariña, the Colegiata, Gran Colegiata Original, and Crianza, It comes in red, rose ,white, and Primero, As well as many other labels, They are located at Bodegas Fariña (D.O. TORO) – Bodega y Enoturismo. Camino del Palo s/n – 49.800 Toro (Zamora) , this is the one we visited, and Bodegas Fariña (Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León) – Bodega y oficinas centrales. Crtra. de Moraleja s/n – 49.151 Casaseca de las Chanas (Zamora).
A bit of history tell us that Manuel Fariña was the starting point of who we are today, of what Bodegas Fariña is. a family winery, with a large team of professionals. A great family.attached to the earth and our roots. We cultivate more than 300 hectares of our own vineyard where we practice a modern, sustainable and technified viticulture, whose objective is to achieve the highest quality of our local variety, Tinta de Toro, and guide the production of each plot towards different wines, with its own personality In 1942 Salvador Fariña and his wife Tomasa López left his hometown, Porto de Sanabria to settle in another town of Zamora, Casaseca de las Chanas and seek a better future. 30 km from Toro, in the middle of the Tierra del Vino, begin a new life is the birth of Bodegas Porto, a name chosen in honor of its origin. His son Manuel Fariña, linked to the family business since its origins, returns from his oenology studies in Requena (Valencia) being the number 1 of his promotion and joins the family business with the illusion of modernizing and expanding the family warehouse, In 1970 the first “Colegiata” begin to be prepared, trying to change the paradigm of the Toro wines, which still did not enjoy the qualification of the designation of origin. Those first colegiatas were born, In 1986 Bodegas Fariña ,following the entrance of Spain in the EEC, the name of Bodegas Porto with which the winery had begun to bottling its wines changes to Bodegas Fariña the enthusiasm and thrust of Manuel make him one of the main drivers of the D.O. Toro and the first president of his Regulatory Council. That same year the construction of a new and modern cellar in Toro Apart from the numerous awards he won internationally, the Gran Colegiata of 1982 and two other wines from the winery achieve the first position in the blind tasting of high -end wines organized by Vinum magazine in Switzerland, in which the great brands of the Duero wines participate. In 1995 Manuel Fariña began to make his wine Primero on commission of a Dutch client, In 2015 Manu Fariña (which we met and guide us to the tastings), third generation of the family, raised between grapes and barrels, ends his studies as an agronomist and the master’s degree in oenology at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and joins the family winery facing the future with new illusions and challenges In 2019-20 Bodegas Fariña renews the image and style of its entire range of Toro wines and launches its Gran Colegiata Original, which evokes in the image those first Colegiatas of the 70s, and which I grew up tastings them.
The official Bodegas Fariña: https://www.bodegasfarina.com/en
The official Toro wine route with heritage sites: https://www.rutavinotoro.com/en/toro-wine-route/
The official DO Toro on its wines : https://www.dotoro.com/
The Toro tourist office on its heritage: https://www.turismotoro.com/index.php/es/toro-monumental
The Castilla y Léon regional tourist office on Toro: https://www.turismocastillayleon.com/en/heritage-culture/toro
There you go folks , another wonderful nostalgic, sentimental trip to my dear Spain, Do not know when we will be back, we sure will have this trip in our hearts forever, Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Bodegas Fariña of Toro !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
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