2018 BODEGAS SAN ROMAN CARTAGO PARAJE DEL POZO TORO SPAIN

Bodegas y Vinedos San Roman is a family-owned winery that was founded by iconic
winemaker Mariano Garcia in 1998 as Bodegas y Vinedos Maurodos. His vision was to
produce world class wines which balanced freshness and longevity in the bottle against the
renown power of the region’s wines. In recent years the winemaking team, under Eduardo’s
direction, has been producing wines in a fresher style, harvested at the optimum moment to
balance freshness and richness. This leads off with intense attention to farming exceptional
grapes using organic methods and some biodynamic concepts and practices.
In 2017, they released their first single vineyard “reserve” wine called Cartago Paraje de Pozo,

Reviews:
“2018 Bodega San Roman ‘Cartago Paraje del Pozo’ Toro- The mind-bending ‘Cartago Paraje del Pozo’ Toro comes
is comprised of 90% Tinta de Toro and 10% other grape varieties, coming from an own-rooted, 45-year-old single
vineyard. This is the inaugural vintage of this wine that shows very inky in the glass, this shows off amazing power
with its massive dark and blue fruit profile. Pencil lead, and creme de violette notes combine with mocha, tar and
iron with heady blue fruits on the palate. Finishing long with beautiful tension and viscosity, this is quite simply a
masterpiece by San Roman. Drink 2023-2045-”
98 points OwenBargreen.com; Owen Bargreen - October, 2023
“This wine is already stupendously good — ... Very dark and rich, with excellent aromatic and flavor expressiveness
as well as complexity, it seems to show a different set of nuances with every sniff and sip. It continued to accom- plish that for 48 hours without ever showing any tiring over time, even though it was completely convincing from
the moment the cork was pulled. A longstanding piece of wisdom among generations of wine evaluators is that
truly great wines are great at every stage of their development, and in my experience, showing greatness early on
is much rarer than showing it with the benefit of — say — a decade in bottle. This wine is already there. “
97 points Wine Review Online; Michael Franz – Issue: June 20th 2023
“The single-vineyard red 2018 Cartago Paraje del Pozo feels young and energetic and comes through as quite
tannic and still unapproachable, despite having been in bottle for one and a half years. It comes from a 50-year-old
plot on very poor soils that delivered contained ripeness. 2028 was a cooler and rainier year with classical wines
with good concentration and balance for the long haul. This had an extended élevage of 30 months in new and
used oak barrels. This is a concentrated, ripe, powerful and oaky Tempranillo (or Tinta de Toro) in need of some
more time in bottle. 3,745 bottles were filled in July 2021. Drink 2024-2032. “
95 points The Wine Advocate; Luis Gutierrez – January 2023
“The 2018 Cartago Paraje De Pozo bottling from Bodegas San Román hails from a single vineyard that is forty-five
years of age. It is planted to a field blend that is ninety percent tempranillo, interspersed with other red grape vari- eties; it is farmed organically and incorporates some biodynamic principles as well. The wine is aged for three years
in French oak casks, with a percentage of the casks new each vintage. The wine comes in at 14.5 percent alcohol
and delivers a simply superb bouquet of cassis, sweet dark berries, cigar wrapper, coffee bean, a touch of grilled
meats, a fine base of soil and a very refined framing of nutty oak. On the palate the wine is young, full-bodied and
shows off outstanding mid-palate depth, with fine focus and grip, firm, chewy tannins and excellent balance on the
long and nascently complex finish. This is a superb and impeccably balanced wine that is going to be stellar once it
is ready to drink, but will demand plenty of bottle age to soften up its chassis of tannin. 2035-2080..”
94 points View from the Cellar; John Gilman - Issue #103 January-February 2023