El Erial, Valdecanada, Bierzo, 2015

Name: El Erial, Valdecanada, Bierzo
Brand: Raúl Pérez
Price: 353.16 GBP

Available Vintages

all 2015

justerini & brooks tasting note

The village cuvee of Valdecañada has a suave, tense character and perceptible stoniness to the mid-palate. A field blend of predominantly Mencia with around 10-15% Palomino, there is a fluidity and finesse to this wine that is hugely attractive. Not a lavish wine, more about detail and intellectual focus. It marries the savoury-salinity of its high, schist origins with a quality of smooth, pixelated berried fruit that makes this a supremely smart offering and quite unlike the wines in the Ultreia or La Vizcaina projects. Fermented with 100% whole bunches, infused with extended skin contact, and raised in neutral barrique. 1200 bottles were produced.

critic reviews

93/100Luis Gutierrez,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

There is a whole new project/range from the Valdecanada village, a zone with schist and slate soils, that will include the Petra vineyard that was previously bottled under the Ultreia range. I tasted some of these wines, starting with a very Hermitage-like white 2015 El Erial de Valdecanada, a wine from the first vintage that comes back only in 2018. This is not really the style Perez was looking for, and the wine is quite different. There is only one barrel of this golden-colored white with moderate alcohol (this is a little riper and more alcoholic, because it was a very warm vintage and they harvested late). It comes from individual plants in a very old vineyard. It has notes of dry hay, pollen and honeycomb and is round and lush with the sensation of a skin-contact white (which it is not!). This is a very different wineGodello on slate soils. There are only 100 bottles of this. The price reflects the scarcity.

DRINKING WINDOW 2022 - 2025

date of review 01/2022