The nose is intense, fruity, spicy and concentrated with raspberry, blueberry and cherry. Full and harmonious on palate with smooth but pronounced tannins. Long, elegant finish.

Attributes

Origin:	Spain / Galicia / Bierzo
Grape variety:	Mencia
Label:	Vegan
Ripening potential:	3 to 10 years after harvest
Drinking temperature:	16 to 18 °C
Food Pairing:	Cold fish dish, dried meat, Meat terrine, Spicy hard cheese
Vinification:	fermentation in steel tank, soft pressing
Harvest:	hand-picking, strict selection
Maturation:	in used barriques
Maturation duration:	14 months
Volume:	13.5 %
Note:	Contains sulphites

Producer

Castro Ventosa / Fam. Pérez Pereira

Castro Ventosa - a bodega in the heart of the Bierzo vineyards. The DO Bierzo, in northwestern Spain, covers about 3500 hectares of vineyards, 70 % of which are between 40 to over 100 years old. On limestone soils interspersed with sand, the indigenous grape variety Mencía feels particularly at home here

In 1752, a member of the Pérez Pereira family acquired 54 hectares of land in Valtuille de Abajo. Today, the family has been growing wine here for four generations. The most famous winemaker in the region is probably Alvaro Palacios, although his family winery Palacios Remondo is in Rioja. Alvaro came to the region as a flying winemaker for the Castro Ventosa winery, where he learned how to work with Mencía before founding his own bodega, thus making the Bierzo region known throughout the world.Thanks not least to the know-how of Alvaro Palacios and the ambition and experience of the Pérez Pereira family, the two wines El Valtuille and El Castro del Valtuille are now among the best wines made from the Mencía grape.

Grape variety

Mencia

Mysterious origin, today widespread

Mencia is a red, Spanish variety currently cultivated on an area of around 10,000 hectares. The origin of Mencia has not been definitively determined. It was long surmised that this vine was a mutation of the French Cabernet Franc, which came via the Way of St. James to Bordeaux. Nowadays, it is assumed that the Mencia cultivar is descended from an autochthonous native variety. Mencia is widespread throughout Galicia and Castile, and is confined almost exclusively to northwestern Spain.

Red wine derived from Mencia grapes is usually rather pale, intense in the nose, and smooth and fresh in the mouth.

Subregion

Bierzo

Bierzo: to the top with the Mencia variety

At the beginning of the 90s, the Bierzo region, which is crossed by the Camino de Santiago, was barely known in the international wine scene. It was only when new residents and investors began to bottles top crus from selected slopes, which perfectly united finesse and force, that interest in this region and its primary variety grew. This variety, Mencia, is considered one of the highest quality red wine varieties in the Iberian Peninsula.

Region

Galicia

Galicia: shaped by the cool Atlantic

Situated in the far northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, Galicia is like a tip which pushes west toward the Atlantic Ocean, north of Portugal. In keeping with this exposed location, wines made here, with their fresh, straightforward character, depart strikingly from the general style of Spanish wines. With four cultivation areas with DO status, Galicia is drawing noticeably more international interest. White wines from autochthonous varieties are mostly produced here.

Country

Spain

Spain – Variety and perfection

“Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember...,” begins Don Quixote's odyssey.

The most famous part is definitely when Don Quixote thinks windmills are his enemy and wants to fight them – until they nearly kill him. It’s possible there was a bit too much of the La Mancha wine at play. Spanish vines fight for their survival in rugged landscapes, battling fierce drought and rough soils. But they fight well.

Rating

Parker 93 Points