Teso la Monja Almirez 2015/2022

Almirez 2022 is a benchmark red from Toro, Spain, made by the prestigious Teso la Monja (Eguren family). It's often described as the gateway to the great wines of this house, balancing Tinta de Toro's characteristic power with modern elegance. 

The Wine Advocate
RP 93+

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

In Toro, 2022 was also a hot, dry year, and the wines have a little less alcohol and ripeness, but not as much as in Rioja. In fact, Marcos Eguren told me he prefers 2022 to 2021 in Toro. The 2022 Almirez has fruit and structure, perfumed and aromatic, with notes of fennel and anise. It has a juicy, round and fleshy palate, with fine tannins more polished than in the Rioja wines, as the vines are better adapted to hot, dry conditions. In 2022 it aged in French oak barrels, 30% new, for 14 months. This is possibly the most structured of the range. 80,000 bottles were produced. It was bottled in March 2023.

I tasted the Eguren family's latest Toro releases a little earlier in the year, when I tasted their Rioja wines. It's a quite different expression of Tempranillo in Toro compared with Rioja, more exuberant and fruit-centred here. They produce 230,000 bottles a year.

Published: 19 June 2025