Raúl Pérez

El Rapolao, La Vizcaina de Vinos, Bierzo, 2019

Name: El Rapolao, La Vizcaina de Vinos, Bierzo
Brand: Raúl Pérez
Price: 154.73 GBP

94/100

Vinous

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2019
75cl
DP
£25.79
2019
6x75cl
DP
£154.73
2019
3x1.5L
DP
£160.73
Last Few
2019
3x1.5L
DP
£160.73

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Full bodied and more concentrated than both the 2018 and 2017 which preceded it, the 2019 nevertheless offers up a bounty of forest fruits, some spice, fresh strawberries and wild herbs. The tannins while present are sweet and the floral top notes, driven by the Bastardo in the field blend, are highly alluring and come together to produce a hugely complex, richly-flavoured Bierzo. RP bought additional plots which came in to production in 2019 and overall El Rapolao, being a steep north to west exposed hill, is fervently admired by all the local producers as perhaps the ultimate Grand Cru in Valtuille. RP now bottles at least three expressions of El Rapolao such is its importance. The La Vizcaina bottling coming from two plots; one mid-slope and one in the lower part, together averaging 550m of elevation. The older parcel in the mid-slope was planted in the 1920s on hard clay and stony soils and the younger, lower plot in the 1980s on clay with more organic material. The blend meets salinity and perfume with silkiness and style. Whole bunch fermented in wood and kept on the skins for 30-45 days before 12 months aging in purely neutral 500L French casks.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

94/100

Josh Raynolds,

Vinous

Deep garnet. Deep-pitched cherry and cassis aromas are complemented by suggestions of smoky minerals, baking spices and lavender, along with a licorice note that builds with air. Youthfully chewy and alluringly sweet, offering concentrated, spice-laced black raspberry, bitter cherry, boysenberry and succulent herb flavors sharpened by a jolt of juicy acidity. Finishes sweet, smoky and extremely long, showing solid grip and mounting tannins that add framework to the intense dark fruit.

drinking window 2024 - 2031

date of review 06/2021

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abv:

13.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.