2021 Raul Pérez Lomas de Valtuille La del Vivo

Raúl Pérez is without a doubt the most mediatized winemaker in all of Spain at the moment. However, his wines are almost impossible to find! Everyone talks about it, but few have tasted it. Raúl is present in countless appellations and regions, not only in Spain, but also in South Africa, Portugal, South America. The common thread in his work is the recovery of vieilles vignes from autochthonous grape varieties and the making of authentic wines with a lot of character and personality. Or to put it in his own words: 'I'd rather make an undrinkably bad Galician wine, but at least let it be a Galician wine.' He has therefore already vinified dozens of wines in countless different regions (mostly in the northwest of Spain, and also beyond), but which have never been marketed. He tests, he tries, and he fails very often. This way of working naturally gives him a lot of experience, with which he is later able to get the most out of one grape variety or one region.

Today he makes or contributes to more than 80 wines. In the end, he has also more or less settled down by renovating two mini bodegas of his own: one in the Tierra de León region, in the village of Valdevimbre, and another in his native region of Bierzo, where he has his home in the village of Salas de los Barrios. makes his own Ultreias, the absolute essence of Mencía. Raúl always works organically and as pure as possible. He uses the minimum of SO2.

La Vizcaína is a project by Raul Pérez in which he classifies the wines according to origin with regard to sun orientation, terroir, etc. La Vizcaína is the name that the inhabitants of Valtuille gave to Raul's father, who was an oenologist and died at a young age. In this project, Raul is assisted by his cousin and oenologist Cesar Marquez.

Godello is making a huge advance beyond the borders of Spain and this has actually taken way too long. The international demand for Chardonnay (of often questionable quality) certainly meant that Godello's were only known to the 'wine connoisseurs' a few years ago, but this has changed completely with amazingly beautiful quality wines made by houses such as Emilio Moro and Valdesil. Raúl Pérez makes this La Vizcaína La del Vivo by fermentation and aging in oak barrels of 500 liters and one amphora with skins and dregs and these are used together for the final blend. 14-16 months aging. Biodynamic wines. No temperature control during fermentation. During vinification, the principles of gravity are applied, without pumping and with as few interventions as possible to get the wine as pure, clean and expressive as possible in the bottle

The Godello grapes for the Lomas de Valtuille, La del Vivo come from a two-hectare vineyard, so volume is very low. The godello has salty and mineral tones with some roughness in its younger years, complex and this wine will develop complexity over the next 10 years. Deep in color. Not an everyday fragrance palette. Points of white fruit, grassy accents, nutty, roasted, as well as spiciness and minerals. Dry taste attack with reflection of the aromas. A wine glass that captivates and that needs work. After some airing more primary fruit and tight minerals. A real meal wine.

Our regular customers know that we are a big fan of the wines from this region made from Mencia (or the white Godello) such as the wines from Perez and Val de Sil , for example. The continental influences and the style give the wines a Burgundian signature and gives wines with an incredible value for money!