Telmo Rodríguez Dehesa Gago Toro 2025
£14.75
The wine
Dehesa Gago is the entry point to the Toro range, made from Tinta de Toro, the local biotype of Tempranillo, grown on the sandy soils that run along the Duero west of Valladolid.
Those sands are the reason Toro matters. Phylloxera struggles in them, so a great many of the bush vines here are old and ungrafted, and the fruit they carry is dark, thick-skinned and naturally high in alcohol. Telmo Rodríguez and Pablo Eguzkiza founded their Compañía de Vinos in 1994 and have spent three decades travelling Spain to recover forgotten vineyards and near-extinct varieties, from Rioja and Toro to Málaga and the Sierra de Gredos. This is the most direct of their three Toro wines, made to be drunk rather than kept, and sealed under agglomerated cork.
The producer
Telmo Rodríguez
View all Telmo Rodríguez winesTelmo Rodríguez is one of the most restless and influential figures in modern Spanish wine. For three decades he has travelled the country reviving forgotten vineyards and near-lost varieties, from Rueda and Rioja to Toro, Málaga and Cebreros, always with the same conviction that great wine is written in old vines.
His approach is that of a vineyard archaeologist. Where others saw abandoned parcels, he saw heritage worth saving, working plot by plot to coax honesty and clarity from each terroir rather than imposing a house signature.
Basa is his benchmark Rueda, a Verdejo of aromatic lift and stony freshness that has become a modern classic. Corriente brings the same clear-eyed craft to Rioja, a red of bright fruit and easy elegance that wears its region lightly.
Approachable yet deeply serious, these are wines that reward curiosity. Explore the work of a winemaker who gave Spain's overlooked corners their voice back.
