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Valtuille Villegas 2020

£56.00 (Inc. VAT bot. 75 cl.) / North Ireland

Bodegas y Viñedos Raúl Pérez
Bierzo

Other vintages: 2023

Parker Points: 93
Peñin Points:  

£56.00 (Inc. VAT bot. 75 cl.) / North Ireland

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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

There's a bigger difference between the 2020 Valtuille Villegas and the 2021 than between any of the other cru bottlings of the two vintages. This feels a little more forward and open, a little riper despite the moderate 12.9% alcohol and a little toasty. It fermented with 100% full clusters and indigenous yeasts and matured in used 500-liter barrels for one year. 1,150 bottles were filled in December 2021.

Features

Type of wine

Crianza Red

Pairings

White Meat, Red Meat

Style

Deep and complex

Occasions

Dinner with Friends, Business Lunch

Winery

Bodegas y Viñedos Raúl Pérez

Size

75 cl.

Country

Spain

Region

Castilla y Leon

Appellation

Bierzo

Alcohol

13.0%

Grapes

Mencía, Alicante Bouschet

Serving

Between 16ºC and 18ºC

Winemaking

Fermented with indigenous yeasts, whole grape harvest and 60-day skin soaking in 3,000-litre open foudres. Aged for 12 months in used 500-litre oak barrels.

Description

In a small corner of the Bierzo, where clay, sand and pebble soils coexist in an almost secret balance, Raúl Pérez has built a radically personal vision of wine. His commitment to the identity of the place, his almost intuitive knowledge of each plot, and his loyalty to traditional methods -without renouncing technical precision- make his wines more than varietal expressions: they are signature wines with the soul of the landscape.

Valtuille Villegas was born from a specific commitment within this philosophy: to vinify separately a small plot of sandy soils, located right next to his house, in an environment that tends to produce finer, more ethereal and tense wines. The Mencía vines, ungrafted and more than 80 years old, sink their roots into a mixture of quartzite and red clay, on a west-facing slope that allows for a slow, unhurried ripening. The microclimate of Valtuille de Abajo, more temperate than other areas of the Bierzo, provides a very unique balance between freshness, perfume and depth.

Winemaking

Valtuille Villegas comes from a vineyard planted on sandy soils next to Raúl Pérez's house, in an area that tends to offer finer, more elegant wines. It is vinified with 35% whole cluster and a maceration of 27 days in oak vats. The wine then matures for 12 months in 500-litre French oak barrels.

Spontaneous fermentation is carried out with indigenous yeasts, without corrections or oenological interventions, respecting the expression of the plot as much as possible. The partial use of stems provides structure and verticality, while the ageing in used wood ensures a subtle integration without make-up.

Taste

The first impression of Valtuille Villegas is not of fruit, but of soil. The wine opens with a note of wet gunpowder, that character of broken chalk and freshly rained earth that only the best Bierzo reds know how to show. As it aerates, notes of wild black fruit emerge: blackberry, blueberry, some dried plum. But everything is kept in an austere, mineral profile, of great verticality.

On the palate, Valtuille Villegas shows a precise attack, with a tension that stretches from start to finish. Fine tannin, almost chalky, envelops the tongue without attacking. There is a restrained, vibrant acidity, reminiscent of the nerve of a high-altitudePinot Noir, but with the elegant rusticity that only Mencía can achieve. There are subtle notes of dried thyme, bay leaf and a distant memory of candied black cherry. The finish is long, saline, with an echo of graphite and dry spices that lingers with a serene energy, without fuss.

Valtuille Villegas is not an easy wine. It demands attention, time and perhaps a second glass to fully unveil itself. But when it does, it shows that rare quality that great plot wines have: they cannot be replicated, only understood.

50% discount on orders over £349.35
Estimated transit time: 4-5 working days.
Bottles Price Over £349.35
1-6 £11.27 £5.63 (-£5.63)
7-12 £15.28 £7.64 (-£7.64)
13-18 £21.40 £10.70 (-£10.70)
19-24 £29.26 £14.63 (-£14.63)
25-30 £33.97 £16.99 (-£16.99)
31-36 £37.99 £19.00 (-£19.00)
37-42 £45.85 £22.93 (-£22.93)
43-48 £50.22 £25.11 (-£25.11)
49-54 £56.73 £28.36 (-£28.36)
55-60 £60.96 £30.48 (-£30.48)
VAT included

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