Winemaker Notes
Blend: 90% Mencia, 10% White Grapes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The village 2023 Corullón was produced with a selection of 90 plots from the 200+ that they own in the village. It drove me crazy when I tasted it unbottled last year, and it has delivered what it promised. It had an élevage of 9.7 months in barrels, bocoyes and foudres and finished at 13% alcohol with a pH of 3.74. It has a stony, quite Moncerbal-ish (according to Ricardo), serious, austere and a little reductive character, with a flinty and elegant reduction that I love. The vines have been worked organically and biodynamically since they started in 1999, and they achieved organic certification in 2018. The vines are very balanced, and they have learned to manage the warm years much better than in the past (in 2017, they were a lot less ready than today). 2023 was still a warmish year (or at least it's not a textbook Atlantic year), even if the wines, like this Corullón, have a profile that makes you think of a classical year in Bierzo from 20 years ago. It makes me think of the 2001 that I've always liked very much, among my favorite years ever, and also 2021. This is super elegant and fine-boned, one of the finest vintages to date. It's not very fruit-driven and is a little spicy, with weight but ethereal...
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Vinous
The 2023 Corullón is a Mencía from Bierzo sourced primarily from Moncerbal and San Martín. It opens with balsamic and forest herb notes, followed by dark-leaning fruit aromas of blackberry and plum underscored by pomegranate. This is medium-bodied, straightforward and savory, with fine-grained tannins. The finish is flavorful and slightly grippy, leaving an airy impression. Barrel Sample: 93-94
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Decanter
The palate offers sour cherry and redcurrant, with firm tannins for structure. Fruit is drawn from seven vineyards totalling 10.1ha and has up to 10% of white grapes in the blend. Tasted en primeur, Villa de Corullón is still a bit of an awkward teenager, presenting with some reduction on the nose, which Ricardo Pérez Palacios says will disappear with time. It’s definitely a wine to return to in due course.
Barrel Sample: 92
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.