2023 Raul Pérez La Vizcaína El Rapolao

Raúl Pérez is currently, without a doubt, the most media-savvy winemaker in all of Spain. However, his wines are almost impossible to find! Everyone talks about them, yet few have actually tasted them. Raúl is present in countless appellations and regions, not only in Spain, but also in South Africa, Portugal, and South America. The common thread in his work is the recovery of old vines of indigenous grape varieties and the production of authentic wines with great character and personality. Or, to put it in his own words: 'I would rather make an undrinkably bad Galician wine, but at least let it be a Galician wine.' Consequently, he has already vinified dozens of wines in countless different regions (mostly in the northwest of Spain, but also beyond), yet none of them have ever been released to the market. He tests, he tries, and very often fails. Naturally, this way of working provides him with an enormous amount of experience, which later enables him to extract the absolute maximum from a single grape variety or a single region.

Today, he makes or contributes to more than 80 wines. Eventually, he has also more or less settled down by cultivating two of his own mini-bodegas: one in the Tierra de León region, in the village of Valdevimbre, and another in his native Bierzo, where, in the village of Salas de los Barrios, he makes his own Ultreias—the absolute essence of Mencia. 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 the wines according to origin with regard to sun orientation, terroir, etc. La Vizcaína is the name 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. 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 pumps 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-liter vats. 10 months aging in second-year French oak barrels.

The Raul Pérez La Vizcaína El Rapolao is deep in color and brilliantly clear. The first impression is fruity with northern characteristics. Not a single trace of barrel aging, nor of the lees. Youthful aromatic profile. Rich body and cohesive. Mencia in its pure and complex form with a continental backbone and no trace of barrel aging. 95/100 Parker. Our regular customers know that we are big fans of the wines from this region made from Mencia (or the white Godello), such as the wines from Perez and, for example, Val de Sil . The continental influences and the style give the wines a Burgundian signature and result in wines with an incredible price-quality ratio!

FUN FACT: In the 'Attachments' tab, you will find the official factsheet for this fine wine. We will automatically send this to you upon ordering this wine. The wine is stored in our climate-controlled Wine Warehouse, and if you come to collect the wine, you will often receive a nice discount . You will see your discount immediately when you select 'Pick up' on the checkout page. We are located in Dordrecht, almost next to the A16, with ample parking. Click here for our address.

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