Ultreia, El Rapolao, Bierzo, 2021

Aromatic, herb-infused forest fruits make way for a sculpted, plummy feel on the palate, allied to traces of iron and soil. The 2022 charms from the beginning and feels more composed and polished this year, just as the 2023 does from barrel: two attractive vintages back-to-back. Typically, Ultreia Rapolao has a certain inner strength and grip and but that is less true of 2022 at this stage. The Ultreia bottling of El Rapolao comes from two plots that together amount to 0.5HA. Steep and high, one sits at 630m (80% of the blend) and one at 580m. Both are on hard, dark red clay and stony soils in the centre of the vineyard. 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 is fermented with whole bunches and now always aged for a year in the same foudré, equating to 1,200 bottles. One of Bierzo’s undisputed Grand Cru sites.