2022 Raul Pérez La Vizcaina La Vitoriana

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 them, but few have tasted them. 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 of indigenous grape varieties and the making of authentic wines with a lot of character and personality. Or to put it in his own words: 'I prefer to make an undrinkably bad Galician wine, but at least let it be a Galician wine.' He has 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 also fails very often. This way of working naturally gives him a great deal of experience, which later enables him to get the most out of one grape variety or one region.

Today he makes or helps make more than 80 wines. Finally, he has also recently settled down by growing two mini bodegas of his own: one in the Tierra de León region, in the village of Valdevimbre, and another in his native Bierzo, where he makes his own Ultreias, the absolute essence of Mencía, in the village of Salas de los Barrios. Raúl always works as purely as possible. He uses the minimum amount of SO2.

La Vizcaína is a project by Raul Pérez in which he classifies wines according to origin with regard to solar orientation, terroir, etc. La Vizcaína is the name given by the inhabitants of Valtuille to Raul's father, an oenologist who died at a young age. In this project, Raul is assisted by his nephew and oenologist Cesar Marquez. The Lomas de Valtuille, Las Gundiñas is a 100% Mencia. It is a biodynamic wine. 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 into the bottle as pure, clean and expressive as possible. Fermentation and maceration in 5,000-litre vats. 10 months of maturation in 2nd year French oak barrels.

La Vitoriana is deeper in colour than the other Lomas de Valtuille. Closed in the nose and needs some airing. Firm in taste with a lot of bite, but also juicy, fruit-driven and with a super balance. Taste unfolds on the palette. Structural, grand and with depth. Wine with bite, where the tannin makes itself felt in the finale.

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 of Perez and for example Val de Sil . The continental influences and the style give the wines a Burgundian signature and gives wines with an incredible price-quality ratio!