D.O. Bierzo, Spain - 95% Mencia, Bastardo 3% Other 2%. Fermentation of whole cluster with its own yeasts in open barrels of 3,000 l.11 months aging in French oak barrels. Production of 3,500 bottles. PARKER 94 in the vintage 2010.
eRobertParker.com #208
Aug 2013
Luis Gutierrez
94
Drink: 2015 - 2020
$55 (70)
The 2010 Valtuille Cepas Centenarias perfectly combines elegance and power, displaying the concentrated balance that centenary vines are capable of. For this wine they play with different vineyards depending on the character of the vintage. In 2010 they selected the warmer vineyards, because it’s a cooler vintage, and in 2009 they selected cooler vineyards (for example Rapolao) as it was a very warm year. The ripe fruit is perfectly framed by the wood, making it a compact wine, with plenty of fruit and freshness: raspberries and dried roses. It needs a couple of years to completely integrate the wood, develop some more complexity and then it should drink well for the next decade. 2015-2020.
Castro Ventosa is the family winery of Raul Perez in the village of Valtuille de Abajo. He was fully dedicated to his own projects between 2003 and 2010, but since then he has returned home and is there again working with his young nephews, continuing with the viticulture tradition of the family, documented since 1752. Over generations they have amassed an impressive collection of vineyards that today add up to around 60 hectares, most of them planted with vines that are over 50 years old.
