Winemaker Notes
A supple palate of dark fruit and compote. The nose matches the mouth profile with the addition a certain note and a kiss of oak. Long, satisfying finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Ultreia Valtuille comes from different plots in the lieu-dit of Villegas. The wine has contained alcohol but has a roundness and a ripe sensation on the nose. They are using 25% foudres for the élevage here, and that percentage will be increased in the future. It has a medium to full-bodied palate with abundant, slightly dusty tannins.
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Vinous
The 2022 Ultreia Valtuille blends Mencía and Trousseau from Valtuille, Bierzo. It was planted on clay soils in shaded parcels, aged in older barrels and whole-cluster fermented. The 2022 offers sanguine notes of red and dark fruit and a touch of herbs and mint. Firm, tense tannins highlight its fine-grained, juicy texture. It delivers intensity and depth with a compact structure.
Primarily found in the Bierzo, Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras regions of Spain and in the Dão of Portugal (where it is called Jaen), Mencia is an early ripening, low acid grape that can produce wines of great concentration, complexity and ageability. And yet Mencia once suffered from a poor reputation and deemed capable of producing simple and light red wines. Post-phylloxera growers would grow this variety on low, fertile plains, which produced high yields and uncomplicated finished wines. Somm Secret—The recent rediscovery of the ancient, abandoned vines planted on rugged hillsides of deep schist has unveiled the potential of Mencia and added discredit to its old reputation.
One of the few northwestern Spanish regions with a focus on a red variety, Bierzo, part of Castilla y León, is home to the flowery and fruity Mencia grape. Mencia produces balanced and bright red wines full of strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate, baking spice, pepper and black licorice. The well-drained soils of Bierzo are slate and granite.