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La Penitencia 2021

48.29₣ (Exc. VAT bot. 75 cl.) / Switzerland

45.89₣/ud (-5%)

Bodegas y Viñedos Raúl Pérez
Ribeira Sacra

4 for immediate shipment. More, available on 09/09/2025

Parker Points: 95
Peñin Points:  

48.29₣ (Exc. VAT bot. 75 cl.) / Switzerland

45.89₣/ud (-5%)

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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2021 La Penitencia is fruit-driven and showcases the Amandi style. It comes from the Pombeiras Vineyard owned by Guímaro on the banks of the Sil River. It does not have the tension it has shown in some previous vintages and feels rounder and gentler, but it still has a great nose, floral and spicy with some exotic hints. It always has a spectacular nose; it's fragrant. The grapes ferment with full clusters and have a shortish maceration. The palate is medium-bodied, the tannins are very fine and it has nice balance and a very clean and intense finish. There are three 500-liter barrels, some 900 bottles. The idea is to move this wine to foudre. With time in the glass, the wine develops riper aromas.

Features

Type of wine

Crianza Red

Pairings

Red Meat, Oily fishes

Style

Deep and complex

Occasions

Dinner with Friends

Winery

Bodegas y Viñedos Raúl Pérez

Size

75 cl.

Country

Spain

Region

Galicia

Appellation

Ribeira Sacra

Alcohol

13.5%

Grapes

Mencía, Caiño, Bastardo

Serving

Between 14ºC and 16ºC

Winemaking

Aged for 12 months in French oak barrels (second year).

Description

In the most abrupt and remote part of the Ribeira Sacra, between vertiginous black slate terraces and the silence broken only by the Sil, Raúl Pérez found a plot of land that seemed to have been forgotten by time. He called it La Penitencia. Not as a punishment, but as a symbol of dedication, of recollection, of a tireless search for the naked truth of wine. Raúl, an indisputable and almost mythical figure of contemporary Spanish wine, decided to make a red wine here that would speak in whispers of the land, the extreme climate and the Galician soul.

The vineyard is a mosaic of indigenous varieties - Mencía predominates, but is accompanied by Bastardo, Caiño and the odd vine of Garnacha Tintorera, as if plant diversity were an act of resistance to homogenisation. The north-facing slopes, with broken slate soils, offer freshness, tension and a mineral austerity that defines the wine's profile. In this area of the Ribeira Sacra, morning mist and limited exposure to the sun slow down ripening and lengthen the vegetative cycle, allowing for a delicate, refined, deeply Atlantic expression.

It is said that once, during a particularly difficult harvest, with rains that threatened to spoil everything, Raúl refused to harvest until the grapes had reached their exact point. "I don't make wine to be liked today," he said, "I make wine so that it will speak in ten years' time." That day, under a persistent downpour, he and a small group of the faithful cut the grapes by hand, their boots sunk in the mud and their hearts full of faith.

Elaboration

La Penitencia is made in an almost religious manner, without haste, without concessions. The grapes are harvested by hand in small boxes, selected bunch by bunch in the vineyard and then in the winery. Fermentation is carried out with indigenous yeasts in open wooden vats, with a significant proportion of stems - a signature of Raúl's style, which seeks structure, verticality and longevity.

Ageing takes place in used oak foudres and barrels for 12 to 14 months, without fining or filtering, to preserve the purity of the wine as much as possible. There is no make-up or special effects: just time, gravity and patience. The wine is bottled like a secret, with the certainty that it will only be revealed to those who know how to listen.

Taste

The first impression of La Penitencia is one of restrained silence, of an elegance that does not need to raise its voice. The wine opens with a faint floral note - dried violet, broom flower - and an earthy background reminiscent of wet stone and rusty iron. Then the fruits appear: sour cherry, blackcurrant, a hint of wild blackberry still green. But everything is shrouded in a subtle haze, as if the wine prefers to suggest rather than show.

The palate is ethereal but firm, like walking barefoot on hot slate. The acidity is precise, electric, and supports a medium body that does not seek to impress by weight but by depth. There is tension, nerve, a saline minerality that creeps through to the finish. The tannin is fine, still somewhat drying, like the skin of a freshly cracked walnut. In the aftertaste there is an echo of damp forest, dry leaves, cold smoke.

It is not an easy wine, nor is it pleasant. It is a contemplative wine, which requires pause and attention. Like the best paintings, it does not reveal itself at first glance. But once it speaks to you, it is impossible to forget it. Raúl Pérez La Penitencia does not seek to please everyone, but to touch a few. Those who, like Raúl Pérez, understand that wine is also a form of truth.

50% discount on orders over 377.83₣*
Estimated transit time: 6-7 working days.
Bottles Price Over 377.83₣*
1-6 22.81₣ 11.41₣ (-11.41₣)
7-12 28.24₣ 14.12₣ (-14.12₣)
13-18 34.85₣ 17.43₣ (-17.43₣)
19-24 43.83₣ 21.91₣ (-21.91₣)
25-30 49.12₣ 24.56₣ (-24.56₣)
31-36 54.78₣ 27.39₣ (-27.39₣)
37-42 58.56₣ 29.28₣ (-29.28₣)
43-48 60.45₣ 30.23₣ (-30.23₣)
49-54 66.12₣ 33.06₣ (-33.06₣)
55-60 71.79₣ 35.89₣ (-35.89₣)
VAT not included
* Wines under 11.33₣ are excluded from the shipping promotion
** Shipments to Switzerland include transport costs, insurance and export costs (SAD in origin), but not customs duties (SAD at destination) and local taxes.
***At Gourmet Hunters wine prices are exempt from 21% VAT for all shipments to Switzerland. Once in your shopping cart select Switzerland as delivery address to enjoy your order tax free.

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