2018 Castro Ventosa Valtuille
El Rapolao & Cepas Centenarias
Not released in every year, these are the first releases since 2015
At Castro Ventosa, life gravitates around the land, the vineyard, the grape and the wine, which can only be created as a natural consequence of doing things right at every stage; the belief is that the wine is first made in the vineyard where the winery focuses most of its attention.- Castro Ventosa
The Valtuille is made from five parcels situated in Valtuille de Abajo with pre-phyloxeric vineyards that are located on the only sandy soil found in Bierzo.
Valtuille Cepas Centenarias comes from a single plot of ancient vines that could qualify as Vino de Paraje and in the future as Vino de Villa
The Perez family owns 75 hectares of MencÃa vineyards in Bierzo making them the biggest owners of this varietal within the Bierzo D.O.
The 2018s have a lower alcoholic degree (all around 13.5%, when it was previously 14.5%) and feel very pure and clean, with better-integrated oak.
2018 Castro Ventosa Valtuille El Rapolao
$74.89/bottle (In Stock) BUY NOW
96 WA
The 2018 Valtuille El Rapolao, like the rest of the single-vineyard wines, has not been bottled separately since 2015. This comes from the coolest paraje of Valtuille, as it gets the sun for one full hour after the rest of vineyards of the village. This was harvested early and matured exclusively in 500-liter oak barrels; it has lower alcohol and is more elegant than the 2014 and 2015. This was a little closed at first and needed some time in the glass to open up. It's a more floral and refined version of Villegas, with more layers, more depth and complexity. There's no rusticity here, which was in the character of the 2014 and 2015. Impressive! 1,700 bottles were filled in May 2020.--Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate
2018 Castro Ventosa Valtuille Cepas Centenarias
97 WA
The floral 2018 Valtuille Cepas Centenarias is the next vintage after the 2015, as no 2016 or 2017 could be produced. This has a Northern Rhône nose that mixes violets and smoked meat, very showy. The palate is seamless and refined, with very fine, silky tannins. Like many of their wines, 2018 could very well be the finest vintage of this wine to date. This has much lower alcohol (13.2%) and more acidity. In 2018, they used all the white grapes from one of the plots, which could be a significant 6% of white grapes, and also some 5% Merenzao, so the wine is somewhat more fluid and nuanced. The two plots used for this wine are in the paraje of Matalospardos in Valtuille. This is the most complete and complex of the 2018s. 3,500 bottles and 36 magnums were filled in early May 2020. --Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate
