Spain, Campo de Borja
Red wine – Garnacha
Price category: Premium Price
Points: 95 – Excellent
Stars: 3 – Slightly overpriced
-> Bodegas Morca
It has gradually become fashionable to make fine, juicy and crisp Garnacha with a lighter character than we have traditionally been used to. Much as I love this modern style of Garnacha, there is something rather life-affirming about the fact that wines of the old, intense, concentrated and full-bodied school are still around.
Touran 2021 is a powerful expression from Campo de Borja, a little southeast of Rioja. It carries its weight with considerable composure, delivering a dark, dense and intense style with generous fruit at its core. Garnacha from this area often has a warm, ripe character, and Touran shows how that style can gain complexity and deeper layers when the structure is allowed a little more room. That makes it an obvious companion for the darker, richer dishes of autumn and winter.
Touran comes from Bodegas Morca, part of the large Juan Gil group. Juan Gil has wineries in several Spanish regions, working according to similar principles in wineries designed along much the same lines. This brings a reassuring consistency to the work, although occasionally a certain predictability to the result. With Touran, that hardly matters. Year after year, it has an enormous amount to offer.
Bodegas Morca approaches Garnacha with the idea that the grape should be allowed to show its power without sacrificing elegance. Touran 2021 handles that balance particularly well. Warm summers and cool nights, combined with winds from the Moncayo mountains, allow the grapes to ripen fully while retaining freshness. The result brings dark berries, liquorice and dark chocolate, alongside a persistent and intense mouthfeel. Concentrated, serious and structured, this is power-Garnacha at full throttle.
