Toro
Zamora · Castile and León
DO Toro8.336inhabitants
899first mention
1305wine documented
A town in the province of Zamora on a height above the Duero, head of the DO Toro. It stands on a pre-Roman hillfort and was resettled around 899 by the infante García, son of Alfonso III, with people of diverse origins.
First mention: The chronicle of Sampiro (written around the year 1000) relates that Alfonso III gave Toro to his son García to settle, an event dated to 899-900. It has been linked to the Vaccaean Arbocala, an identification that is disputed.
The legend
documented 1305 and 1342 (vineyards within Toro's boundaries); legend of 1492 (the Pinta)The vineyards of Toro in the Moreruela parchments and the legend of the Pinta
The Cistercian monastery of Moreruela gradually accumulated property in Toro, and its parchments document the city's vineyards from the early 14th century. On 17 June 1305, Hema of Germany, “wife of Count Don Pedro”, donated to it the houses, vineyard and orchard she owned in Toro and its district, in exchange for their lifetime use. On 8 March 1342, a local man, Miguel Ferreras, signed an exchange with the monks in Toro: one of his vineyards for one belonging to the monastery, both within the city's boundaries. To this documented foundation was added a legend that the Regulatory Council repeats today: that Toro wine travelled aboard the caravel Pinta on Columbus's voyage of 1492. No document of the time confirms it.
Alive today: Toro gives its name to DO Toro, recognised in 1932, re-established in 1987 and headquartered in the city. Every October the Town Council holds the Grape Harvest Festival, with a parade of carts and the Wine Fountain. Several wineries make wine within the municipality, among them Bodegas Fariña and the Covitoro cooperative.
Wineries and their wines
- Campus Gothorum
- Colegiata Blanco
- Colegiata Rosado
- Colegiata Tinto
- Fariña Crianza
- Fariña Lágrima
- Gran Colegiata Original
- Pr1mero
- Arco del Reloj
- Barbián Tinto Roble
- Cañus Verus Malvasía
- Cañus Verus Viñas Viejas
- Cermeño Tinto
- Gran Cermeño
- Merur Brut Nature
- Valdeoliva Tinto
Wine towns nearby