La Vitoriana, La Vizcaina de Vinos, Bierzo, 2020

A beautifully ripe intermingling of dark and red fruits with a spine of cooling acidity, perhaps derived from that north-exposition. A finely tannic impression and no trace of oak; it’s a beautifully unadorned Bierzo. Planted in 1881, La Vitoriana is still on Pie Franco rootstocks and faces north at 600m elevation. Whole bunch fermented in large, open-top wooden fermenters with no temperature control. In 2020, it stayed on the skins for around 90 days and was aged mostly in large tronconic vat with a small part in used 500L barrique for a year. The La Vizcaina bottling comes from the middle and lower sandier parts of the slope, while the Ultreia bottling comes from a tiny, estate-owned plot at the top.