The 2005 Paredinas was sourced from 90-year-old vines and aged for 23 months in 100% new French oak. A glass-coating opaque purple, it offers up a superb bouquet of pain grille, scorched earth, underbrush, leather, violets, and blackberry. This leads to a layered, full-flavored wine with plenty of ripe tannin, 6-8 years of aging potential, and savory flavors. This lengthy wine will offer prime drinking from 2015 to 2030. Bodegas Piedra, located in Toro, is a modern winemaking facility which owns 60 hectares of vineyard.Importer: Tom George, Frontier Wines, Dover, NJ; tel. (973) 328-4500 and Dee Vine Wines, San Francisco, CA; tel. (877) 389-9463

The 2001 Paredinas, also a 100% Tinta de Toro cuvee, comes from 100-year-old vines and is aged 22 months in 100% new French oak. Opaque purple in color, it offers toasty, hard wood charcoal, black cherry, and black currant aromas in a full-bodied package. This balanced, rich, and structured wine should further evolve with 2-4 years of bottle aging and drink well for another 6-8 years.Importer: Thomas George, Frontier Wine Imports, Dover, NJ; tel. (973) 328-4500

This starts with a strong blast of black olives, leather and blackberry, followed by condensed fruit flavors and a tinge of black cherry. A nice wine with character, but for $80 it comes up short of thrilling.——M.S.(11/1/2007)—— 88