2020 Valtuille El Rapolao
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The 2020 Valtuille El Rapolao feels lighter and more open than the 2021 I tasted next to it, the tannins a little more present. This comes from a centenary plot planted with a field blend that was vinified together with 30% full clusters and indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in 500-liter French oak barrels for one year. Some 1,700 bottles were filled in December 2021.
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Jancis Robinson MW
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
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85% Mencía, 10% Alicante Bouschet, 5% white varieties. Vino de Paraje. Old bush vines of 100 years old in the paraje El Rapolao (Valtuille de Abajo). Clayey soil. Spontaneous fermentation of whole bunches in a foudre of 3,000 litres without temperature control. Post-fermentation maceration for 60 days. After pressing the wine, it rests for 1 to 2 months, then is aged in used oak barrels of 500 litres for a year. 1,600 bottles produced. Tasted blind. Very ripe black fruit and pepper spices. Definitely more spicy than fruity on the nose. There is also a hint of leather. The palate is fluid, deeper and longer than wide. A telluric Rapolao in its literal sense – the most soil-oriented and deep-rooted Rapolao. (FC)