Winemaker Notes
From Carballal de Abajo, Priaranza del Bierzo, Post-Crucifixion is made from grapes grown in goblet-pruned pre-phylloxera vineyards and foot-trodden (pigeage à pied) on whole cluster, followed by fermentation with native yeasts in clay amphoras, and a soft maceration, withouth pressing nor pumpovers. It stays on skins for ten months and then rests for three months in used 500-litre French barrels.
Blend: 50% Mencía, 10% Palomino, 20% Merenzao, 10% Brancellao, 10% Godello
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Post-Crucifixión is from an ancient plot of 0.25 hectares planted with a field blend of Mencía and plenty of Galician varieties—Merenzao, Brancellao, Palomino or Godello in Santalla del Bierzo. The cooler 2021 delivered a wine with only 12% alcohol and lots of freshness. It fermented with 100% full clusters that were foot trodden in clay tinajas with a long maceration and aged 18 months in used 500-liter French oak barrels. Here, they have quite a lot of Merenzao (or Trousseau) that, in this cooler year, seems to mark the wine quite a lot, with perfumed and elegant floral aromas. It's ethereal and elegant, very fine-boned. This is more in line with the 2018 than the 2019, with the personality and perhaps a little more depth and complexity but still quite ethereal. Superb! They have closed the vineyards so they don't get the wild boards that use to eat a lot of grapes; so in the future, there might be a little more wine. Only 593 bottles were filled in June 2023.
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James Suckling
Aromatic notes of dried roses and hibiscus lead the way. The palate is medium-bodied and fresh, ethereal and delicate, with subtle tannins and a long, graceful finish. This comes from a unique, tiny, head-trained old vineyard planted with an unusual mencia that has a more Galician DNA than Bierzo. Approximately 50% mencía, 10% palomino, 20% merenzao, 10% brancellao and 10% godello.
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.