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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.2 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 31 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by pomelo on 1/19/2024 & rated 89 points: Robe rubis, couronne légèrement plus pâle, Nez de cerise, de cannelle, de poivre blanc et de viande fumée. Bouche sur la cerise, épices. Boisé qui laisse un léger goût de rafle. Tannins fermes et légèrement asséchants. Longueur moyenne (322 views) | | | Tasted by benjamin96 on 1/14/2023 & rated 90 points: Besoin de temps en bouteille. Compact et assez tannique. On sent une belle matiere et un beau fruit fruit noir. Devrait se bonifier (908 views) | | | Tasted by Cabfrancophile on 12/3/2021 & rated 90 points: Definitely coming across more closed at this point in its life. Felt very Chinon-like with forest floor, firm tannic grip, pomegranate-like red fruit, and minerality on display. Tons of material and structure, just not as giving as previously. Hint of feral, smoky character on the finish.
Hold next bottle for 5+ years. For those interested in drinking near term, this is one that currently requires some attention to appreciate its details. (1739 views) | | | Tasted by Thefatbastard on 5/8/2021: Le nez est envoûtant sur la cerise noire kirshé, la prune et des fines herbes. Attaque puissante de fruits noirs, encore très dense, mais qui passe rapidement à une finale astringente et austère. Attendra encore... Longtemps sans doute... (2083 views) | | | Tasted by futronic on 11/13/2020: Quite closed, but plenty of potential. Hold for another couple years. (2588 views) | | | Tasted by phil the agony on 7/10/2020 & rated 91 points: Aucune note prise (2922 views) | | | Tasted by Mario17 on 6/4/2020 & rated 89 points: Un nez un peu viandeux et bizarre au départ, ça se dissipe avec un coup de carafe pour ensuite révéler un nez plus sur les épices et lea fruits rouges. La bouche est assez sérieuse, de corps plus puissant, du fruit rouge acidulé aussi sur une belle finale à peine asséchante, assez bien pour le prix. À carafer impérativement selon moi. (2727 views) | | | Tasted by phil the agony on 2/19/2020 & rated 91 points: Aucune note prise (2232 views) | | | Tasted by Thefatbastard on 12/24/2019: De la fraise, de violettes et des épices douces au nez et en bouche. Une jeunesse de fruits éclatants, mais une finale encore astringente, attendre qlq années. (2045 views) | | | Tasted by SiR on 8/24/2019 & rated 92 points: 13.5% - Clear, deep garnet / clean, pronounced intensity - blackberry, blackcurrant, freshly cracked pepper, smoky, mineral edge, floral (violet, peony) / dry, med+ refreshing acidity, med chewy tannin, med body, med+ intensity, persistent finish. Very nice bottle! (2120 views) | | | Tasted by christyler on 7/31/2019 & rated 92 points: Lemony and fresh. Liked by everyone at the table. (2269 views) | | | Tasted by Fantasio on 5/16/2019 & rated 91 points: Tannins domestiqués. Un côté orange chocolat me faisant penser à CNDP. Miam. 91 (2321 views) | | | Tasted by maxcantin1 on 3/17/2019 & rated 92 points: Wow un petite merveille. Délicieux avec des raviolis à la viande braisée. Un premier nez et une attaque en bouche de Beaujolais. Ensuite on dirait un vin du Rhône Septentrional. Il y a une tonne d'acidité, c'esr soyeux, il y a de la framboise, de jujubes sure, un côté viandeux et épicé. Après 2 heures on trouve un côté raisin sec/confit. Encore bien jeune. À revoir dans quelques années. Il a de la matière pour dormir 5 ans. On adore! (2184 views) | | | Tasted by SiR on 2/12/2019 & rated 90 points: Raúl Pérez⎮La Vizcaina & Ultreia: 13.5% - Clear, deep garnet / clean, pronounced intensity - blackcurrant, dark berry, smoky, toast, mushroom funk, peony, celery salt / dry, med+ intensity, med+ gummy and slightly grippy tannin, med body, med+ intensity, med+ length. Some menthol, eucalyptus emerged after some air. (2240 views) | | | Tasted by phil the agony on 1/21/2019 & rated 91 points: Un mélange funky entre le Bojo et le Rhône Nord.
Le côté perlant et le fruit du Bojo mais la structure et le petit côté viandeux du RN.Fait quand même nature.Légèrement terreux.Un superbe fruit.J'en ai acheté 3 autres bouteilles.Beau maintenant.
91pts + (2130 views) | | | Tasted by aagrawal on 1/21/2019 & rated 90 points: Medium youthful ruby; high intensity aromatics, juicy strawberry, cherries, core of minerality/gravel that gives the nose a lift; palate is medium bodied, medium-plus youthful tannin, medium-high acid, medium to medium-plus alcohol but well balanced (13.5% on label), plenty of red fruits, cherry, pomegranate; medium length finish. I've heard Mencia/Bierzo described as a cross between Pinot Noir and Southern Rhone, and that's not a bad description. It has the aromatics, acid, and red fruitedness of Pinot with the body and alcohol of a Southern rhone. It makes for a lovely food wine which is priced well. May age for the next 5 years, but drinking well now. 90 (2293 views) | | | Tasted by maxima on 1/15/2019 & rated 89 points: Bu en succ pour comaparer avec le Las Gundinas 2015.
Nez sur la terre, un peu de funky et d'épices avec un peu de viande.
En bouche, assez costaud avec un boisé présent mais bien
dosé, de l'anis et des framboises avec un peu de poivre
et d'herbes. Belle finale assez longue et terreuse...
il a un petit côté Rhone Nord invitant.
Bien aimé, le seul que j'ai acheté, pour boire dans les 5 années
à venir. (2575 views) | | | Tasted by Hanibal on 1/14/2019 & rated 89 points: Smells like a beaujolais morgon, tastes like a C9P. If you want both at the same time buy this wine, if you don't like the mix up don't buy it ! :) ... for the price it is still a good wine but nothing to brag about. (2574 views) | | | Tasted by AndreikL on 1/4/2019 & rated 87 points: Not at all a common taste I am used to. Doesn’t mean I didn’t like it tho! Powerful and crisp! (1689 views) | | | Tasted by Mario17 on 12/16/2018 & rated 88 points: Belle surprise, fruits noirs, un peu élevage, vin puissant et assez dense mais avec une belle fraîcheur et assez équilibré. 88-89 pts (1751 views) | | | Tasted by David_K on 12/12/2018 & rated 91 points: Getting into new Spain lately, and after having the mostly translucent Comando G garnacha last week, I expected something along the same lines here. How wrong I was. Very surprised to see how dark this poured; as others have mentioned, it's absolutely a dark-fruited wine. But it's not heavy -- it maintains great freshness and a terrific attack, and blinded I would absolutely pin this as a Northern Rhone wine. I don't like it quite as much as I liked the Comando G, but it's really interesting and good. (1650 views) | | | Tasted by Jean-Philippe M on 12/8/2018: Dégustation des 3 cuvées Vizcaina; Rapolao, Vitoriana et Gundinas.
- Rapolao: est le plus austère et faible des 3. Le vin est pas très expressif, un peu raîche, avec bien peu de fruit. Longueur moyenne, du plaisir à boire ce vin par contre.
3,5/5
- Vitoriana: c'est le Bordeaux des 3, très Bordeaux et Cab franc au jour 1 et très vieux Ch9 au 2ième... beaucoup de substance et de longueur dans ce vin. Beaucoup de plaisir pour 36$
4,5/5
- Gundinas: vraiment spécial celui-ci, il fait un peu nouveau monde style xinomavro, mais en même temps, on reconnait le style de Perez, c'est plus doux, soyeux en bouche, c'est le plus facile des 3 à boire à ce stade-ci et de loin. Grande longueur similaire à Vito.
4/5
Ce sont de très beaux vins QPR, mais j'ai quelques craintes face à la garde de ceux-ci, je dirais que c'est des vins à acheter à la caisse pour consommer maintenant. (1796 views) | | | Tasted by Cabfrancophile on 9/8/2018 & rated 95 points: The first Bierzo in quite a while that's lived up to the perceived potential of the region. In fact, given the number of misses and solid but undistinguished bottles of Mencia I've purchased, I wonder why I keep going back to the well. A wine like this, in hindsight, is the reason.
Structurally and texturally, drinks like a top flight Chinon, while the flavor profile is a blend of blueberry, violets, scrub brush, and blackberry. This wine is simply electric on the attack, and has a beginning, middle and end. Darker fruited with remarkably lively freshness on the transition to the finish. Dusty tannins and minerality underpin the never-ending floral and fresh-fruited finish. Worth noting that this was a bit feral, meaty when first opened, though the class was evident even prior to decanting properly.
High complexity, elegant, structured and enjoyable. Top class wine, a joy to drink now with the balance and depth to justify laying a bottle or several down. (1505 views) | | | Tasted by fred o. on 9/2/2018: off list at restaurant.
Dark opaque purple, some legs. Nose a bit closed at first, grapey, some cherries with time, some tobacco leaf. Palate textured red fruits with herbal tinge, good body, nice acidity. Good with creamy and tomato-sauced pastas as well as grilled pork rib. Easy drinking now but would decant if opening another bottle at this point. 91 pts (1574 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Josh Raynolds
Vinous, Spain’s Northern Regions Keep It Cool (Mar 2019) (3/1/2019)
(La Vizcaína La Vitoriana (bierzo) Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Panel Tasting
Decanter, Spanish Mencia PT March 2019 (11/27/2018)
(Raúl Pérez, La Vizcaina La Vitoriana, Bierzo, Castilla y Léon, Spain, Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, May/Jun 2018, Issue #75, The Summer of 2018 Report On Spanish Wines
(Mencía “La Vitoriana” La Vizcaína- César Márquez y Raúl Pérez (Bierzo)) Login and sign up and see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous and Decanter and View From the Cellar. (manage subscription channels) |
| La Vizcaína Producer Website
Raul Perez. He’s pretty much a rock star in Spanish Wine.
Affectionately known as the ‘ Wine Wizard’, not sure if this is due to the Gandalf style beard or the magic he creates with wine; maybe a bit of both! A producer with great influence on the new generation of Spanish winemakers, Raúl Pérez was born in Valtuille de Abajo, a small village in Bierzo, where his long time grape growing family manage the Castro Ventosa winery. His fame comes in no small part from the fact that the doors of his winery have always been open to newcomers in Bierzo, starting with Alvaro Palacios himself. He also helped many established names in Galicia like Forjas del Salnés in Rías Baixas and Algueira and Guímaro in Ribeira Sacra to focus on local grapes and terroir-driven wines.
Despite his traditional training, Pérez has gradually eschewed winemaking orthodoxy to capture and bottle the essence of the vineyards and soils where he works. In his reds, he searches for the most ideal maturation and maceration times for each vineyard. His wines are usually field blends of Mencía (it is standard to find Alicante Bouschet, Bastardo, Palomino, Dona Blanca, Godello or Malvasía mixed in the Bierzo vineyards) and are fermented with stems unless the grapes have been dehydrated. He claims to have found a balance between early harvesting and long macerations (two to five months). This allows him to preserve acidity, extract tannins gently and polymerize tannins through the use of natural oxygenation in oak. Pérez no longer uses cooling devices in his winery and his wines are aged either in foudres or used barrels. In recent times, he has been using flor (a veil of yeasts) to gain complexity and as a means of natural protection during the ageing process to avoid adding sulphur.
As for the whites, Pérez shuns ultraclean musts and cooling devices; he relays on yeasts and microbiology instead.
“I like to work with the freedom of not knowing how the wines are going to smell,” he says.
Born in 1973, Raúl Pérez started off in the family winery, but in 2003 he set up on his own in Bierzo. The name he chose was Ultreia (“let’s go further, in Latin”), the spirited salute exchanged among pilgrims in the Camino de Santiago. In 2010 he regained control of Castro Ventosa and in 2011 he launched La Vizcaína, also in Bierzo, in partnership with his nephew César Márquez. In addition to his consulting work for many producers across Spain, particularly in their beginnings, he oversees winemaking at Tilenus in Bierzo. Since its purchase by MG Wines, Pérez also consults for other wineries of the group in Spain’s southeast.MencíaMencia is grown in the Northwestern region of Spain near the borders of Galicia, Leon, and Zamora. Mencia produces fruity wines of great color, acidity and aging potential. It is sweet and aromatic, with a good dose of alcohol. The vines produce medium-sized clusters and fruit.
The reds made from Mencia have a characteristic velvety palate. Traditional reds are pale, fragrant and light wines. Modern winemakers are creating bolder reds, of higher concentration, expressing Mencia’s aromas and freshness. Many wineries are taking advantage of the variety ability to aging.
Rose wines are aromatic and fruity, lively, light and soft.Spain Vinos de España - Wines of Spain (Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior) | Wikipedia
Wine Map on weinlagen-info
Spain is the third largest wine producing nation in the world, occupying the majority of the Iberian Peninsula with vast diversity in climate, culture, and of course, wine. From inky, dark reds of the [Priorat] to dry, white Finos from Andalusia, Spain can easily boast of elaborating a wide variety of notable styles. Within Spain there are currently 62 demarcated wine regions, of which a handful have gained international recognition: [Rioja], Priorat and [Ribera del Duero]. Yet these regions are only a small sample of the high quality wines Spain produces. Regions such as Cava, Penedes, Somontano, Galicia, Rueda and Jerez are only a few of the numerous regions worthy of exploration throughout Spain. Spain can also lay claim to having the most land under vine in the world, growing up to, by some accounts, 600 indigenous varietals of which Tempranillo is their most well known. Other popular varietals include [Garnacha], Bobal and Monastrell for reds and for whites; the infamous [sic] Palomino Fino grape which is used in the production of sherry wine, Pedro Ximenez in Montilla Morilles, Albarino used in the creation of the bright, effervescent wines of Galicia, and Verdejo in Rueda. - Source: - Catavino.net
Spain is not in the forefront of winemaking for its dessert wines, other than for its sweet wines from Sherry country including the highly revered Olorosos (when sweetened). But apart from Sherry Spain has a range of styles of dessert wines, ranging from the those made from the Pedro Ximenez grape primarily in Jerez and Montilla-Moriles) to luscious, red dessert wines made in the Mediterranean from the Garnacha (Grenache) grape. Some good Moscatels are made in Mallorca, Alicante and Navarre. The northwest corner of Spain, Galicia, with its bitter Atlantic climate, is even making dessert wines, called “Tostadillos” in the village of Ribadivia (similar to France’s “Vin de Paille”). The Canary Islands have made interesting dessert wines for centuries (they are mentioned by Shakespeare, for example) and in recent years the quality of winemaking has been improved and the Canary Islands wines are being better marketed now. The winemaking styles for “Vinos Dulces” are also diverse, from “Late Harvest” (Vendimia Tardía) to “Fortified Wines” (Fermentación Parcial). Based on in-spain.info.Castilla y León Castilla y León Wine (Turismo Castilla y León )Bierzo[[D.O.]] Bierzo is located on the western edge of the province of [[León]], next to the [[Galicia|Galician]] border. The region has a distinct microclimate, being at relatively low altitude and protected on both sides by mountains, marking a transition between the arid [[meseta]] and verdant Galicia.
The Santiago de Compostela pilgrim route passes directly through the region and the predominant red grape, [[Mencía]], was allegedly introduced by pilgrims. Mencía makes up 70% of planting and many wines are 100% Mencía. [[Garnacha Tintorera]] is the secondary red grape, although there are also experimental plantings of other varieties, including [[Merlot]] and [[Cabernet Sauvignon]]. Whites may contain [[Godello]], [[Doña Blanca]], [[Palomino]] and [[Malvasia]].
Bierzo produces much inexpensive bulk table wine but an influx of smaller bodegas around the turn of the millenium are producing modern-styled wines attracting international critical acclaim.
Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Bierzo |
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