Double blind tasting Dark ruby/ violet with minimal rim clearing Medium/ medium plus intensity of aromas - plum / black cherry and dark florals with dry earth background - possible touch of new oak? Medium plus bodied with palate of plum/ blueberry and earth - middle palate seemed lacking here Medium plus tannins and medium plus alcohol with medium plus acidity Finish rather short and seemed to drop out, leaving only tannins Drink now, as fruit doesn't appear there, at least in this bottle I guessed Malbec from Argentina based on fruit and tannin It appears I am in the minority based on other TN, but this was one of my least favorite Raul Perez wines Ive tried
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Dark violet. Unfiltered Aromatics medium. Black and blue fruit, mainly berries and dark cherry. Briefly candied, but this did not persist. Dark florals. Later earth and dust. No new oak. Palate has a medium body. Acid medium +. Tannins medium +, medium grained. Alcohol medium +. Initial flavors were berry pancake syrup, but overtime became dry leaf and dust. Finish has a medium + length with balance towards the structure rather than fruit. Dry glass notes of earth and floral Overall, the aromatics were better than the palate Don't feel holding will offer much given current level of fruit.
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Firing on al cylinders after a 3 hour decant, candied fruit, oriental spices, lovely mouthfeel, fleshed out with dark and red fruit , balanced acidity and mineral character, hint of smoke in the mix...Great QPR and will hold for many more years.
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Little more angular than the bottle tried on release around 9 months ago. Very nice fruit and fleshed out but will need a couple of years to come around to show its true colors, hold on another 4/5 years before the next.
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Courtes notes. Semble plus concentré que le 2015. Un mix de cab franc et de syrah. Poivron rouge, poivre, fruite noir tout en gardant une belle acidite. Un beau vin avec un beau potentiel. La prochaine dans 3-4 ans.
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A good wine but some mencia based wines are better values (i.e. Godelia). Candy nose - my son mentioned blue raspberry slush puppy - he's right! Still a good balance with fruits, oak, cinnamon, spices. Not easy to match with food but a perfect winter wine to drink on the side of a wood fire. Needs 1 to 2 hours of aeration now. Really don't know about the potential aging of this wine.
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Contrasting this to the Vitoriana of the same vintage. This has similar notes of baking spice in the aromas but coupled with a greater degree of plum-like fruit. I find the taste far more appealing as there is a certain level of plushness to that fruit which seemed lacking in the Vitoriana, and the tannins are smoother. This strikes me as less austere; it also escapes the bitter finish of the other wine. Enjoyable, full stop.
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13.5% - Clear, med ruby / clean, pronounced intensity - blackberry, old cedar, smokiness, eucalyptus, menthol, fresh violets / dry, med to high acidity, med fine grained tannin, med+ body, pronounced intensity, med+ length. Well balanced and classy. For what comparison are worth... I'm sure I would have guessed Left bank Bordeaux if tasted blind. Anyhow, the whole La Vizcaina line-up from Perez is quite impressive. 92(+)
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Exactly what I'm looking for in a quality Mencia-based red. Hits that hard to explain ripe Cab Franc + cool climate Syrah hybrid quality that is unique to Mencia.
Aromas of boysenberry and scrub brush (whatever is Bierzo equivalent of chaparral/garrigue/macchia/maquis). Became deeper with air. World class flavor arc, with beginning, middle and end. Ripe dark fruit attack, silky, developed mid-palate, long finish steeped in minerality and arid vegetation flavors.
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Purple tinged ruby, obviously quite young. A plethora of bright red fruit and floral aromas. Very ripe fruit, great structure to balance that. Almost too floral for me. Very good wine, perhaps lacking a little concentration to get big scores.
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Le vin dégage un parfum de framboises, de pomme grenade, d'anis étoilée et autres épices douces, de bois noble, avec quelques effluves minérales salines... Envoutant !! Les tanins sont encore fermes, on a beaucoup d'extraction, l'ensemble reste frais et digeste, l'acidité est bien dosé et le boisé et parfaitement maitrisé. Très beau mais ne va que bénificier d'un séjour de 2-4 ans en cave !! (1ière de 3)
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Lovely full fruited wine with balancing acidic zip. Works well with a tiny chill and a double decant. This seems a wine to drink young, while its beautiful fruit filled nose and palate are alive. I do not see it as aging into something better. I love Bierzo with food, and this is a great Bierzo with food right now.
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Fantastique. Un peu de réduction au début, mais après le fruit très pure se libère et on est dans le délice, avec des tannins fins, une bonne longueur, et une belle alliance entre la délicatesse et la puissance. Peu de vins offre autant de qualités à ce prix. Bravo à Raul Perez, encore une fois. 92
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Wow une bombe, le Mencia à son meilleur avec ses notes fumées, de petits fruits noirs et d’herbes. On se croirait sur un vin de Provence, avec ce nez mais surtout une tension à la bordelaise en finale. Très beau.
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My first encouner with Bierzo wine. Very different to a '96 Bordeaux being served at the same time. A nice refreshing change. 6 hours slow ox and 1 hour decant was not enough. It was showing much better at the end of the dinner. However the nose was always muted, so the wine may be in a numb phase. I am giving it 89 for now, and one extra point for the indigenous grapes and non-industrial wine making technique.
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From late July (?) and now closing from inventory. I can still recall the nose and pick out cranberry, mulberry, bergamot, black cardamom, cinnamon, and wet clay. The palate performed unevenly, compacted and strict but super persistent and provided a superb glass after just the right aeration (day 2 after decanting on day 1) before closing down hard. If the olafactory experience holds long enough for the wine to fully unfurl it will be a 95-97 point sort of wine.
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Penya La Verema. Cata nº 289. Granate de buena capa. Nariz peculiar, algo reducida, con recuerdos a sangre, frutilla licorosa, hierbas aromáticas. En boca tiene buen ataque, cuerpo medio, tanino pulido, estructura media y bastante longitud. No acabó de expresarse en plenitud, quizás necesitó una aireación intensa. Cuarto clasificado de la cata.
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Beautiful nose of red floral spice. Nice round texture with tasty flavors of sweet red fruits and crushed flowers with good balancing acidity. The finish has a lovely mineral crunch with excellent floral lift. Balanced, elegant and stony.
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Medium intensity, purple color. The nose is bursting with black plum, blackberry, red cherry, black olives, violets, raw meat, wet granite, dusty gravel and garrigue herbs. Really bone dry but with lots of juicy black fruit. Just above mid-weight with mouthwatering acidity and tannins set to medium. Drinking perfect now on the vibrant youthful fruit but this has stuffing to age with grace.
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Wonderful. Nice nose of red fruits, but where it kicks in is on the palate. Great balance, lovely fruit, bright, a taste of summer on a dank rainy spring day. Clean and vibrant on the finish, This is an incredibly friendly bottle and has balance that it can likely continue to be tasty for several years.
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Lovely nose with ripe red fruits, and hints of Cherry, with some oak in the background. On the palate medium bodied, quite elegant, integrated, nice acidity and young, noticeable tannin. Fruit goes in the direction of sweet red berries, but also some red plum, very nice.
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Tasted over three days. Impressive upon pulling the cork and it improved with air. The wine features black and purple berry fruit, deep colored root vegetables, assorted herbs, clay dust, and mineral ores, with underlying meatiness and a diamond hard edginess. Indeed, the inflection-changing combination of fruit and earth here stands out! Let it rest and if drinking now, decant for several hours.
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Moestue’s book launch of «The New Vignerons» (Grand Cafe, Oslo): Blend of 85% Mencia plus 15% Bastardo (Trousseau) and Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet). Nose: More structure, nice fruit. Taste: Great fruit, more structure and minerality (than Ultreia Saint Jacques). Notes of Garrigue.
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9/19/2023 - dsamuel wrote: 88 Points
Double blind tasting
Dark ruby/ violet with minimal rim clearing
Medium/ medium plus intensity of aromas - plum / black cherry and dark florals with dry earth background - possible touch of new oak?
Medium plus bodied with palate of plum/ blueberry and earth - middle palate seemed lacking here
Medium plus tannins and medium plus alcohol with medium plus acidity
Finish rather short and seemed to drop out, leaving only tannins
Drink now, as fruit doesn't appear there, at least in this bottle
I guessed Malbec from Argentina based on fruit and tannin
It appears I am in the minority based on other TN, but this was one of my least favorite Raul Perez wines Ive tried
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9/18/2023 - S.Wayne wrote: 88 Points
Dark violet. Unfiltered
Aromatics medium. Black and blue fruit, mainly berries and dark cherry. Briefly candied, but this did not persist. Dark florals. Later earth and dust. No new oak.
Palate has a medium body. Acid medium +. Tannins medium +, medium grained. Alcohol medium +. Initial flavors were berry pancake syrup, but overtime became dry leaf and dust.
Finish has a medium + length with balance towards the structure rather than fruit.
Dry glass notes of earth and floral
Overall, the aromatics were better than the palate
Don't feel holding will offer much given current level of fruit.
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3/20/2023 - Nick72wine wrote: 92 Points
Firing on al cylinders after a 3 hour decant, candied fruit, oriental spices, lovely mouthfeel, fleshed out with dark and red fruit , balanced acidity and mineral character, hint of smoke in the mix...Great QPR and will hold for many more years.
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4/3/2022 - Villon wrote: 93 Points
Grande comoplexité.
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6/27/2021 - Nick72wine wrote: 90 Points
Little more angular than the bottle tried on release around 9 months ago.
Very nice fruit and fleshed out but will need a couple of years to come around to show its true colors, hold on another 4/5 years before the next.
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5/15/2021 - benjamin96 wrote: 90 Points
Courtes notes.
Semble plus concentré que le 2015. Un mix de cab franc et de syrah. Poivron rouge, poivre, fruite noir tout en gardant une belle acidite. Un beau vin avec un beau potentiel. La prochaine dans 3-4 ans.
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1/24/2021 - carlturcotte Likes this wine: 90 Points
A good wine but some mencia based wines are better values (i.e. Godelia). Candy nose - my son mentioned blue raspberry slush puppy - he's right! Still a good balance with fruits, oak, cinnamon, spices. Not easy to match with food but a perfect winter wine to drink on the side of a wood fire. Needs 1 to 2 hours of aeration now. Really don't know about the potential aging of this wine.
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12/13/2020 - slanum wrote:
Contrasting this to the Vitoriana of the same vintage. This has similar notes of baking spice in the aromas but coupled with a greater degree of plum-like fruit. I find the taste far more appealing as there is a certain level of plushness to that fruit which seemed lacking in the Vitoriana, and the tannins are smoother. This strikes me as less austere; it also escapes the bitter finish of the other wine. Enjoyable, full stop.
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11/22/2020 - SiR wrote: 92 Points
13.5% - Clear, med ruby / clean, pronounced intensity - blackberry, old cedar, smokiness, eucalyptus, menthol, fresh violets / dry, med to high acidity, med fine grained tannin, med+ body, pronounced intensity, med+ length. Well balanced and classy. For what comparison are worth... I'm sure I would have guessed Left bank Bordeaux if tasted blind. Anyhow, the whole La Vizcaina line-up from Perez is quite impressive. 92(+)
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9/11/2020 - maxima wrote: 90 Points
Celui qui m'a le plus conquis sur les 2016 bus à date.
Bel équibre et beau fruit. Rien n'accroche et
c'est de bon gout. Bien aimé.
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8/30/2020 - Cabfrancophile Likes this wine: 93 Points
Exactly what I'm looking for in a quality Mencia-based red. Hits that hard to explain ripe Cab Franc + cool climate Syrah hybrid quality that is unique to Mencia.
Aromas of boysenberry and scrub brush (whatever is Bierzo equivalent of chaparral/garrigue/macchia/maquis). Became deeper with air. World class flavor arc, with beginning, middle and end. Ripe dark fruit attack, silky, developed mid-palate, long finish steeped in minerality and arid vegetation flavors.
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8/14/2020 - tzelmer wrote: 91 Points
Purple tinged ruby, obviously quite young. A plethora of bright red fruit and floral aromas. Very ripe fruit, great structure to balance that. Almost too floral for me. Very good wine, perhaps lacking a little concentration to get big scores.
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7/30/2020 - ManuKey Likes this wine: 90 Points
Le vin dégage un parfum de framboises, de pomme grenade, d'anis étoilée et autres épices douces, de bois noble, avec quelques effluves minérales salines... Envoutant !! Les tanins sont encore fermes, on a beaucoup d'extraction, l'ensemble reste frais et digeste, l'acidité est bien dosé et le boisé et parfaitement maitrisé. Très beau mais ne va que bénificier d'un séjour de 2-4 ans en cave !! (1ière de 3)
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7/11/2020 - Villon wrote: 92 Points
91-92 Très bon.
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7/9/2020 - Rechrom wrote: 92 Points
Lovely full fruited wine with balancing acidic zip. Works well with a tiny chill and a double decant. This seems a wine to drink young, while its beautiful fruit filled nose and palate are alive. I do not see it as aging into something better. I love Bierzo with food, and this is a great Bierzo with food right now.
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6/5/2020 - Villon wrote: 92 Points
Fantastique. Un peu de réduction au début, mais après le fruit très pure se libère et on est dans le délice, avec des tannins fins, une bonne longueur, et une belle alliance entre la délicatesse et la puissance. Peu de vins offre autant de qualités à ce prix. Bravo à Raul Perez, encore une fois. 92
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4/26/2020 - Rhone-River wrote: 92 Points
Massive fruit. Full body, structured through tannins but not to rapy. Could age well
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4/10/2020 - ludwigbpm wrote: 93 Points
Wow une bombe, le Mencia à son meilleur avec ses notes fumées, de petits fruits noirs et d’herbes. On se croirait sur un vin de Provence, avec ce nez mais surtout une tension à la bordelaise en finale. Très beau.
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12/15/2019 - Song103 Likes this wine: 90 Points
My first encouner with Bierzo wine. Very different to a '96 Bordeaux being served at the same time. A nice refreshing change. 6 hours slow ox and 1 hour decant was not enough. It was showing much better at the end of the dinner. However the nose was always muted, so the wine may be in a numb phase. I am giving it 89 for now, and one extra point for the indigenous grapes and non-industrial wine making technique.
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8/9/2019 - silton Likes this wine:
From late July (?) and now closing from inventory. I can still recall the nose and pick out cranberry, mulberry, bergamot, black cardamom, cinnamon, and wet clay. The palate performed unevenly, compacted and strict but super persistent and provided a superb glass after just the right aeration (day 2 after decanting on day 1) before closing down hard. If the olafactory experience holds long enough for the wine to fully unfurl it will be a 95-97 point sort of wine.
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7/19/2019 - PacoHigon wrote:
Penya La Verema. Cata nº 289. Granate de buena capa. Nariz peculiar, algo reducida, con recuerdos a sangre, frutilla licorosa, hierbas aromáticas. En boca tiene buen ataque, cuerpo medio, tanino pulido, estructura media y bastante longitud. No acabó de expresarse en plenitud, quizás necesitó una aireación intensa. Cuarto clasificado de la cata.
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6/27/2019 - dream Likes this wine: 90 Points
Beautiful nose of red floral spice. Nice round texture with tasty flavors of sweet red fruits and crushed flowers with good balancing acidity. The finish has a lovely mineral crunch with excellent floral lift. Balanced, elegant and stony.
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6/21/2019 - karl.1480 wrote: 90 Points
Medium intensity, purple color.
The nose is bursting with black plum, blackberry, red cherry, black olives, violets, raw meat, wet granite, dusty gravel and garrigue herbs. Really bone dry but with lots of juicy black fruit. Just above mid-weight with mouthwatering acidity and tannins set to medium. Drinking perfect now on the vibrant youthful fruit but this has stuffing to age with grace.
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4/26/2019 - Rechrom wrote: 93 Points
Wonderful. Nice nose of red fruits, but where it kicks in is on the palate. Great balance, lovely fruit, bright, a taste of summer on a dank rainy spring day. Clean and vibrant on the finish, This is an incredibly friendly bottle and has balance that it can likely continue to be tasty for several years.
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4/12/2019 - Blauweiss Likes this wine: 91 Points
Lovely nose with ripe red fruits, and hints of Cherry, with some oak in the background.
On the palate medium bodied, quite elegant, integrated, nice acidity and young, noticeable tannin. Fruit goes in the direction of sweet red berries, but also some red plum, very nice.
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4/4/2019 - Motz wrote: 94 Points
Tasted over three days. Impressive upon pulling the cork and it improved with air. The wine features black and purple berry fruit, deep colored root vegetables, assorted herbs, clay dust, and mineral ores, with underlying meatiness and a diamond hard edginess. Indeed, the inflection-changing combination of fruit and earth here stands out! Let it rest and if drinking now, decant for several hours.
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11/26/2018 - SAND Likes this wine:
Moestue’s book launch of «The New Vignerons» (Grand Cafe, Oslo): Blend of 85% Mencia plus 15% Bastardo (Trousseau) and Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet).
Nose: More structure, nice fruit.
Taste: Great fruit, more structure and minerality (than Ultreia Saint Jacques). Notes of Garrigue.
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