Celler Tomas Torres
Carricola, Valencia
Vicent Tomas and Carmen Torres planted their vineyard nearly twenty years ago on the white, chalk soils of Carricola, about an hour south of Valencia and today farm and bottle a range of exceptionally good value, slightly saline and delicious mediterranean wines.
In Vicent’s own words:
20 years ago and thinking about self-consumption, we made our first wine. We really liked it ourselves - as did our family and friends - so much so that we decided to continue elaborating and increasing production. Since then everything has been satisfactions. At the beginning we made it in a small winery at home, and 9 years ago we built a bioclimatic cellar with a storage room and underground aging, the construction was integrated into the landscape. From the beginning we opted to elaborate the wines in a natural way (as we do with the garden, the olive oil, the fruit trees and the feeding of the animals of our small farm), this way of elaboration has allowed us to share our wines with people with allergy problems to chemical products, vegetarians, vegans and in general with people who seek to take care of themselves with healthy eating.
Currently we have 2'5Has. of vineyard in small plots, most of them on soil of "albaris" white, fresh earth, very suitable for the cultivation of vinification vineyard.
The majority variety is tempranillo "ull de llebre", in smaller proportion we planted international varieties (cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, etc.) and local varieties such as rosseti, macabeu, tortosí and tardana.
The terroir here represents one of those classic examples of soil in Spain's east creating a huge juxtaposition between how you might expect the wines to taste and how they actually taste in reality — the young, chalky calcareous terroir here giving the wines great levity on the palate despite the intense heat and luminosity of the region. Despite the white earth, shimmering heat and piercing light, the young calcareous terroir allows the wines to develop delicious maturity but with the retention of acidity.
Soil is rarely worked here and while the young vines are trellised and cane-pruned, the old vines that Vicent and Carmen also now farm are largely bush vines.
Vicent and Carmen's wines are fermented simply in 700L plastic vats before being pressed to fibreglass, stainless steel and, in some cases, barrel for elevage. Generally, the wines are bottled in Spring after 8-9 months of elevage.
The 2021 growing season was a good one for the pair, the intense heat of previous years being replaced with an even year with quite reasonable yields. In Vicent's own words, these are the best wines they have ever made. They're medium-bodied, bursting with delicious fruit and represent really great value.
Information on previous wines
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Tardana, grown on limestone and chalk, fermented in steel and bottled as an ancestral method sparkling wine
2021 A great vintage, well-balanced with good concentration.
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Tortosi and tardana, grown on limestone and chalk, lightly macerated and raised in stainless steel.
2019 Bright citrus, stone fruit and nashi pear notes, with flinty minerality and salinity.
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Tardana grown on limestone and chalk, macerated and raised in stainless steel.
2021 Vivid stone fruit flavours, with gentle green almond bitterness. ‘21 has proven to be an excellent vintage, well-balanced with great concentration.
2019 Picked a little earlier and sits at 11% ABV. A more savoury varietal expression with plenty of tension.
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2021 Skin-fermented macabeu, raised in stainless steel. Generous primary fruit in the realm of ripe persimmon.
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Tortosi and tardana, grown on limestone and chalk, lightly macerated and raised in stainless steel.
2021 Round and vibrant, with restrained stone fruit flavours and gently grippy phenolics. ‘21 has proven to be an excellent vintage, well-balanced with great concentration.
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Portobodega grown on limestone and chalk and raised in stainless steel.
2021 Primary, focussed and saline, with restrained orchard fruit. ‘21 has proven to be an excellent vintage, well-balanced with great concentration.
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Direct-press tortosi, grown on limestone and chalk with elevage in old barrels.
2021 Saline and textural, with delicate floral aromatics and lightly bruised orchard fruit. ‘21 has proven to be an excellent vintage, well-balanced with great concentration.
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Direct-press tortosi, grown on limestone and chalk and raised all in stainless steel.
2021 Primary, saline and focussed, with a core of compact and restrained orchard fruit and lightly earthen aromatics. ‘21 has proven to be an excellent vintage, well-balanced with great concentration.
2019 Lightly macerated, with an almost tropical shade of fruit amongst the acidity and salinity.
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Garnacha grown on limestone and chalk and fermented in stainless steel with a portion of whole bunches included.
2021 Ripe red fruit with earthen aromatics and gentle sappiness from the stems. ‘21 has proven to be an excellent vintage, well-balanced with great concentration.
2019 Dark red fruit with good phenolic intensity.
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Tempranillo and syrah grown on limestone and chalk and fermented in stainless steel with a portion of whole bunches included.
2021 Ripe red fruit with spicy aromatics from the syrah and a gently tannic structure. ‘21 has proven to be an excellent vintage, well-balanced with great concentration.
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Cabernet sauvignon grown on limestone and chalk and fermented in stainless steel.
2021 A dark but very fresh expression of fruit. ‘21 has proven to be an excellent vintage, well-balanced with great concentration.
2019 Picked at perfect ripeness, with a dark but fresh expression of fruit and good impression of soil.
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Tempranillo and syrah grown on limestone and chalk and fermented in stainless steel.
2019 Dark blue fruit with freshness and purity.
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Giro and grenache grown on limestone and chalk and fermented in stainless steel.
2019 The lightest of the four reds from this vintage, with distinct, varietal macerated cherry fruit from the giro.