In the city of Toro, there used to be an excellent vineyard that produced outstanding wines. The wine of Toro was mentioned in ancient texts by Alfonso IX (the King of Kings, 1270), Juan Ruiz the Archpriest of Hita, Quevedo, Luis de Góngora, and Miguel de Cervantes. In 14th century Sevilla, the sale of any imported wine was banned, save the wines of Toro. These wines also accompanied Spanish explorers to the New World. The legendary Duero River plays a very important role in the heritage of D.O. Toro. The Duero deposited Toro’s distinctive sandy soils in this area thousands of years ago. Because these sandy soils provided further oxygen, D.O. Toro was the place to be when it came to phylloxera, and because of this, there is only one Spanish region which didn’t experience the great phylloxera scourge: D.O. Toro is home to the highest number of ungrafted vines.

Jorge Ordóñez is an important modern pioneer in Toro. Ordóñez travelled to Toro for the first time in 1991, finding only two cooperative wineries. He also discovered yards of vineyards with pre-phylloxera plant stock. Ordóñez travelled with the Eguren family in 1995, hoping to start a winery with them.

1997 marked the founding of Bodegas Numanthia by Jorge and the Eguren family. This winery in the historic region of Albarracín subsequently became a symbol of the area for premium wines. Jorge and his partners sold Numanthia to LVMH in 2007, and 85 venture companies had been operating under its model just 10 years after that.

After the sale of Numanthia, Jorge founded Bodegas Ordóñez , his personal business in D.O. Toro. One of the wines produced by Bodegas Ordóñez, Triton, is often regarded as Toro s best value. As Ordóñez himself says, it is an honour and privilege to produce wines from the oldest clones of Tempranillo, grown and cared for using the most traditional methods of viticulture. Jorge of Bodegas Ordóñez  does god’s work at D.O. Toro, one of the world’s best wine regions.