The president of the Regulatory Council of the Toro Designation of Origin, Felipe Nalda, pointed out to AGRONEWS CASTILLA Y LEÓN that the incorporation of the new varieties such as Albillo Real and Moscatel "were grapes that were already used in the area to make wines in the past".
Thus, these two new varieties, Albillo Real and Moscatel de grano menudo, will make it possible to produce white and rosé wines under DO Toro protection. In this way, varieties such as Tinta de Toro, an autochthonous variety, Garnacha tinta, Malvasía castellana, Verdejo, Albillo Real and Moscatel de grano menudo are also protected under the quality brand.
The Toro Control Board "encourages winegrowers to register their vineyards of these new varieties in the Control Board's registers in order to regularise them for this year's harvest, when these grapes will enter the wineries as D.O. Toro".
On the other hand, the specifications also include another change: an increase in the maximum grape yield allowed per hectare of the Tinta de Toro variety to 7,500 kg. This will make it possible to adapt the technical regulations to the new trends and realities of vineyards in the countryside, whereby the new vineyard plantations, mostly trellised and supported by irrigation, which now account for more than 25% of the total vineyard surface area, make it possible to achieve a higher yield in trellised vineyards, compared to the previous approach, established in 1987, a period in which all the vineyards in Toro were bush vines with wide planting frames.
The president of the Control Board points out that "this increase in yields is fully compatible with maintaining the quality enjoyed by all our wines and, in particular, those made with the queen variety, Tinta de Toro, which represents around 90 percent of the entire Designation of Origin".
The Toro Designation of Origin states that "we are constantly renewing ourselves and we are committed to innovation and the future, adapting over time to trends and incorporating new grape varieties in order to increase our market share in other segments while preserving and guaranteeing the great quality of Toro wines". This Designation of Origin sold 15.4 million bottles of wine last year.
