Grapes of Spain

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
92	Wine Enthusiast	Toasty, warm, lusty dark-berry aromas are laced with a subtle animal accent. This is a big wine, with a fleshy, tannic, muscular feel. Flavors of blackberry, mocha and chocolate finish in fine form, with moderate tannic grip and all sorts of length. Drink this excellent Toro through 2022. Editors’ Choice August 2016
92	Vinous Media	Bright violet color. Highly expressive, focused cherry, dark berry, coconut and vanilla aromas expand with aeration. Sweet and seamless on the palate, offering intense blackberry and cherry compote flavors with exotic oak spice and floral pastille nuances. In a plush, inviting style, showing no rough edges. Velvety tannins add shape to the fairly powerful finish. This suave wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks and then aged for a year in 50% new French and 50% used American oak barrels. 2020 – 2025
92	The Wine Advocate	The dark 2012 Crianza Elías Mora feels serious, concentrated and ripe without excess, with a dominance of black fruit and plenty of spices. This wine is powerful and concentrated, yes, but it's fresh and balanced, and the tannins are present but fine-grained. This is an impressive Crianza. Looking at last year's notes, I see that this wine was also my favorite then. This wine is good for consistency. Issue 221, October 29, 2015
91	Guia Penin	Guia Penin 2016
90	Wine & Spirits Magazine	By Eias Mora’s standards, 50-years old vines are young, their fruit destine for his Crianza bottling. The age of the vines gives depth to this Toro, a red that’s wild in tannins, tremendous in structure and full of black fruit flavors. Ideal for grilled lamb.

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Elias Mora Crianza 2014

92 (IWR) 91 (Peñin)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
92	International Wine Report	The 2014 Elias Mora 'Crianza' was aged for 12 months in a combination of French and American oak prior to bottling. Needing some air contact to open, after time this begins to show a ripe bouquet of graphite, crushed mint, blackberry pie and milk chocolate shavings. Nicely balanced, blue fruit flavors begins to emerge that beautifully combine with black fruits and chocolate. Overall a fantastic Toro, which should will continue to evolve nicely over the next decade or more. June 2018
91	Guia Penin	Guia Penin 2018

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Elias Mora Crianza 2015

91 (WS) 91 (Peñin) 88 (VfC)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
91	Wine Spectator	Plush and polished, this red delivers ripe flavors of roasted cherry, fig compote and cocoa, with well-integrated tannins and balsamic acidity. Generous and even gentle, but offers good depth. Drink now through 2027. August 31, 2019
91	Guia Penin	Guia Penin 2019
88	View from the Cellar	The 2015 Crianza from Elias Mora is a touch riper than the 2015 entry level bottling I reviewed quite positively a couple of issues back, as this is a full fifteen percent octane (versus 14.5 for the previous example). The wine sees no new oak during its elevage, as it is raised for a year in a fifty-fifty mix of American and French casks that are already one year-old. The wine offers up a ripe and classy bouquet of black cherries, sweet dark berries, some balsamic overtones, cigar wrapper, a fine base of soil tones and a bit of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, powerful and full, with excellent depth at the core, broad shoulders and a long, moderately tannic and complex finish. This carries its alcohol pretty well, but at fifteen percent, there is a bit of backend heat poking out. This is a very well-made wine that is a bit too ripe for my palate, which keeps its score down a bit, but this is Toro in the twenty-first century and until something gets done about global warming, this is how these wines are going to be. In that context, this is truly a superb effort and if you can handle the octane better than I on the finish, add four points to me score, as there is a lot to like here! 2018-2035+. Issue #78 - November/December 2018

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Elias Mora Crianza 2016

93 (WRO) 92 (WB) 92 (TA) 92 (VM) 91 (WE) 91 (Peñin) 91 (WS)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
93	Wine Review Online	Although this terrific Crianza release will ultimately outlive and probably surpass the 2017 Tinto from Elias Mora, it is only barely the better wine in the near term except for those who love oak spice and expect it from their Spanish reds. To be clear, though, the oak is beautifully measured to accent the fruit, which is itself so rich and sappy that it can easily handle the spicy, toasty notes without being overwhelmed. Indeed, the core of fruit is so concentrated and compelling that I’m tempted to write “bloody” rather than “sappy,” as the rich texture and salty undertones really do taste like a bloody lip in the wake of one of the pond hockey fights of my youth. Not everyone would like that simile, of course, but the Spanish know a bit about bull’s blood…which is surely what this region was named for in the Middle Ages, rather than bulls themselves. Terrific now with food but really crafted for a decade’s worth of cellaring, you can use it according to your preferences and hit the mark either way. Michael Franz - August 18, 2020
92	Washington Wine Blog	The 2016 Elias Mora ‘Crianza’ Toro is a fabulous value from this mountainous region. Toasty oak wraps around the core of dark currants, pipe tobacco and leather tones on the nose. The palate has wonderful freshness and verve, with a silky texture. Layers of dark fruits dance with bchpcoate and minerals with smoky undertones. Every bit outstanding, this beautiful ‘Crianza’ Toro will cellar well for a decade or more. Drink 2020-2030. Dr. Owen J. Bargreen, CS - July 2020
92	Tim Atkin MW	This is ‘just’ a Crianza, but it has lovely perfume, balance and precision, with chalky freshness and brightness, fine-boned tannins, violet and red berry fruit and the subtlest dusting of French and American oak. Elegant, even at 15% alcohol. December 10, 2020
92	Vinous Media	Brilliant ruby-red. Expressive, mineral-accented aromas of ripe red fruits, candied flowers and baking spices. Sweet and animated in the mouth, offering juicy raspberry and cherry liqueur flavors enlivened by a cracked pepper accent. Smoothly combines richness and liveliness and finishes with sharp focus, lingering sweetness and supple tannins that add gentle grip. 2022 – 2030 Josh Raynolds - February 2021
91	Wine Enthusiast	Concentrated blackberry and cassis aromas lead to a full and intense palate. Toasty blackberry, cassis, vanilla and chocolate flavors are nothing unusual for this consistent producer, while this crianza feels warm and weighty but doesn’t lose clarity on the finish. Drink through 2024. —M.S. December 2020
91	Guia Penin	Colour: cherry, purple rim. Nose: fruit expression, red berry notes, spicy, dried flowers. Palate: flavourful, fruity, good acidity, long elegant. Guia Peñin 2020
91	Wine Spectator	This red is rich and deep, in a savory style. Espresso, loamy earth and mineral notes frame currant, fig, cocoa and clove flavors. The muscular tannins are well-integrated, while firm acidity keeps this focused. Compact but energetic. Drink now through 2028. 7,000 cases made, 1,500 cases imported. — TM October 2020

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Elias Mora Crianza 2017

92 (WRO) 91 (WE) 90 (VfC)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
92	Wine Review Online	Proprietor and winemaker Victoria Benavides releases muscular but graceful wines under the “Elias Mora” label, which was the name of the former owner of the vineyard. Who names their wines after somebody else, once they’ve purchased the assets, regardless of the forerunner’s contribution? Nobody in California, for sure, but a respectful person I hope to meet someday, in this case. This bottling is the least expensive of the four current releases from the bodega that I recently tasted side-by-side, yet it neither looks nor tastes like an “entry level wine.” Very deeply pigmented, with medium-plus body and excellent depth of flavor, it shows an impressive array of complexities atop a core of dark cherry and blackberry fruit. There’s notable oak influence that shows mostly in the aromas and in some spicy flavor accents but virtually no wood tannin. Consequently, the wine’s overall impression is of pure, perfectly ripened fruit, and there’s really no need to hold this to allow the oak to be absorbed. Cellaring is still advisable, as the fruit will hold its purity and power for years, during which time “bottle bouquet” will add additional layers of aroma and flavor. Michael Franz – Issue July 20, 2021
91	Wine Enthusiast	Deep garnet in the glass, this wine has aromas of cassis, raspberry and vanilla. It tastes well made, with velvety tannins and flavors of black cherry, black currant, dark chocolate, clove and lavender that continue into the floral finish. Mike DeSimone – April 2022
90	View from the Cellar	The 2017 Crianza from Bodega Elias Mora is a big, ripe wine, coming in at fifteen percent octane in this vintage. The bouquet offers up impressive depth in its blend of black cherries, cassis, saddle leather, cigar ash, dark soil tones, nutty new oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, plush on the attack and rock solid at the core, with ripe, fairly firm tannins, good focus and grip and a long, youthfully complex and really quite well balanced finish. This carries its octane very well and only shows a whisper of backend heat. It really is a very well-made wine that will need six to eight years to properly soften up and start to drink at its peak. 2027-2050+. John Gilman - Issue #91 / February 2021

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Elias Mora Crianza 2018

93 (VfC) 93 (OB)

Label

Fact Sheet

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
93	View from the Cellar	The Crianza bottling from Elías Mora is made from much older vines than the regular Tinto, with these bush-trained vineyards fully fifty years of age. The wine is aged in a fifty-fifty blend of French and American oak casks, but for this bottling, the barrels are one year of age. The 2018 vintage was a hot one in Toro, so this wine comes in at a full fifteen percent octane, but is impressively fresh and vibrant on the nose, wafting from the glass in a mix of black cherries, plums, chocolate, cigar wrapper, a superb base of soil and a combination of vanillin and spicy oak tones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and quite suave in personality, with a plush core of fruit, good soil undertow, ripe, firm tannins and a long, complex and really quite well-balanced finish. This is a top flight example of Toro! 2030-2080. John Gilman – Issue #98 March/April 2022
93	OwenBargreen.com	Sourced from 50 year old Tina de Toro vines, this generous Toro offers a very fleshy texture with rich blue fruits that collide with wet stone, tilled soils and pencil lead flavors. Drink 2022-2032 Owen Bargreen - August 18, 2022

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Elias Mora Crianza 2019

91 (WS) 88 (VfC)

Label

Fact Sheet

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
91	Wine Spectator	A graceful red that deftly marries a dense core of fine tannins with a fresh and appealing range of ripe black plum, cassis, licorice string, toast and cigar box notes—a flavor profile that expands on the palate. Tempranillo. Drink now through 2027. 3,750 cases made, 700 cases imported. Wine Spectator - Oct.15, 2022
88	View from the Cellar	The 2019 Viñas Tinto “Crianza” from Bodega Elías Mora is made from fifty year-old tempranillo vines that are farmed organically. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in tank and is aged in a fifty-fifty combination of French and American oak casks, with all of the barrels already one year-old. It offers up a deep and ripe bouquet of black cherries, sweet dark berries, chocolate, spit-roasted meats, dark soil tones and a nice touch of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and shows just a touch of sur maturité, with a good core, chewy tannins and fine length and grip on the gently warm finish. This is a big boy, coming in at a full fifteen percent octane, but is pretty well balanced and fairly fresh for its alcohol level. It will need some time in the cellar to blossom. 2030-2065. John Gilman - Issue #103 January/February 2023.

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