2011 El Rapolao

The 2011 La Vizcaina El Rapolao comes from the fresher of the red vineyards in the new La Vizcaina project. Like all the wines in Raul’s projects, these old vineyards have a field blend with a majority of Mencia, but they all have some Alicante Bouschet, Estaladina (the local name for Merenzao/Bastardo/Trousseau) and Souson. El Rapolao is a north-facing vineyard which is harvested 25-30 days after the warmer vineyards, and its soils are rich in clay and iron. The elegant nose shows some wild herbs, red rather than black fruit, and a strong sense of wet soil. The palate is balanced, with a light touch of the stems. Drink 2013-2020. I had the chance to spend a few hours with Raul Perez trying to understand his wines for you, as he keeps changing (almost) everything (nearly) every time you talk to him. Well, I might be exaggerating a bit, but not much. Raul Perez now has two separate wineries in Bierzo, one in Salas de los Barrios, where the Ultreia wines are produced, called Bodegas y Vinedos Raul Perez, and a new one in Valtuille de Abajo, called La Vizcaina de Vinos, but I’m including them all here in an effort to simplify things. All the wines are made with full clusters, and they do not use temperature control, for either the whites or reds. They are looking for ways of reducing alcohol levels, and reducing maceration time. Upbringing of the wines is exclusively in used barrels for one year. You might wonder how they do it; of course they need to break the new barrels, but they are only used for the higher-volume and the entry-level wine, Ultreia St Jacques. All the grapes come from different zones within the village of Valtuille de Abajo, where he was born in 1972. He shows the zone’s names on the labels, hoping they will get known and that some other producers will follow his example in the future and use those names on their labels, following the Burgundian model. He showed me a cadastral map of the village showing all the zones, plots and different ownership, which would be very familiar to those knowledgeable about the Cote d’Or. Maybe one day wine books will talk about La Poulosa, Rapolao, Cova de la Raposa and so on. Overall, this is a superb collection of terroirs within the village of Valtuille de Abajo. As I said, maybe one day these vineyards will be bottled by other producers, and hopefully followed and studied like the vineyards in the villages of Cote de Nuits! Imported by Patrick Mata, Ole Imports, New Rochelle, NY; tel. (914) 740-4724; www.oleimports.com