La Vizcaina by Raul Perez La Vitoriana Tinto 2014
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Robert
Parker
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Whole cluster fermentation in large oak vats. 60-90 day maceration followed by one year of aging in used 225 and 500-liter barrels. Bottled without fining or filtration.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
My favorite red of the 2014 vintage was the 2014 La Vizcaína La Vitoriana, which was very expressive, floral and elegant, with filigree and detail. There is a lot of depth in the palate, greatly balanced with very fine tannins and a long, tasty finish. This is the oldest vineyard they have, and Raúl Pérez told me the vineyard is not an easy one: very good in some years, not so good in others. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April, the latest bottling, as it needs a long aging after a three-month maceration.
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La Vizcaina is a relatively new project from Raul Purez that explores the hillside crus around his hometown of Vatuille de Abajo. Four reds and one white are produced under the name, all from vines with over fifty years of average age. Though all the red wines Raul produces in the Bierzo D.O. are labelled as 100% Mencía, they all in fact contain significant quantities of other local grapes.
The rich varietal diversity found in Galicia is due in large part to the famous Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint James in the town of Santiago de Compostela, the earliest references to which date back to the 9th century. The monks who made the journey would often carry vine cuttings from their home regions in their packs to offer as gifts to the Spanish monasteries that would put them up along the way. This is certainly the explanation for the preponderance of Trousseau found throughout northwestern Spain.
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.