Ultreia, El Rapolao, Bierzo, 2021

Situated just 200m from Cova de la Raposa, El Rapolao is the vineyard seeing the most local interest and attention amongst Bierzo producers. Raúl is the majority owner with approximately half of the 6HA. As of 2020, the Ultreia Rapolao bottling includes an additional 0.2HA that was taken away from the Pérez family in 1936 at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, and that they finally managed to buy back in 2019. This brings the Ultreia bottling of El Rapolao to a mighty 0.5HA (1500bts), the original two plots being steep and high, one at 630m (80% of the blend) and one at 580m. Both are on hard, dark clay and stony soils in the centre of the cru. The vines are 120 years old, a field blend mix of Mencia, Trousseau and Alicante Bouschet, yielding 3,000kg per hectare on average (half that of the La Vizcaina bottling). Ultreia El Rapolao 2021 was fermented with whole bunches and was aged for a year in a new foudre. The same vessel will be used going forward. The 2021 is a little reductive initially, eventually marrying limpid, glowing red fruits with a wilder earthbound complexity. One of Bierzo’s undisputed Grand Cru sites.