France is certainly not short of beautiful wine-growing regions, charming corners with outstanding terroirs for top wines, and certainly not short of specific grape varieties for authentic and incomparable wines. But that was not enough for the Frenchman Antony Terryn. In 2003, in the Toro region of north-western Spain, in Castillo Y Leon, he found precisely those vineyards and that interplay of climate, soil and grape varieties where he believed he had achieved his dream. In 2004, he began producing wine with very high standards for himself and his wines. Now, less than 20 years later, he is already a highly regarded insider tip, but the quality of his wines will soon change that too. Today, Terryn cultivates 21 hectares with deep respect for nature as naturally as possible. And on the unique terroir of Toro, he has not only found parcels of land with vines cultivated in the traditional bush vine method, but some of which also have ungrafted vines that are well over 100 years old, or vines that grow on their own roots rather than on American rootstocks. This is a source of inspiration. Like an artist or composer, he assembles the wines from the individualistic parcels into small works of art year after year. The yields he collects are low, the wines are fermented in concrete tanks and then, depending on the quality, aged for 6 to 8 months or 16-18 months, or in the case of the two top wines of the house, "El Titan del Bendito" and "La Cuesta de Las Musas", for 20 months or longer. Aged and matured. The latter two wines come from two small single vineyards. Terryn's red wines are all dedicated to the Tinta de Toro grape variety, the common variety of Tempranillo here. And he even produces a remarkable noble sweet wine from this grape variety. And he also succeeds convincingly with the white wine variety Verdejo. And in all these wines, Antony Terryn's declared aim is to conjure up the terroir of the region in its interplay with the climate in every bottle. The quantities produced here are not large, but we will certainly be hearing a lot more about Dominio del Bendito.
