Raúl Pérez

Ultreia, El Rapolao, Bierzo, 2022

Name: Ultreia, El Rapolao, Bierzo
Brand: Raúl Pérez
Price: 250 GBP

95/100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

94/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 2019 2020 2021 2022

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in bond

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2022
3x1.5L
DP
£351.53

En primeur

2022
6x75cl
EP
£250.00

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

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.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of utmost 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

Joaquin Hidalgo,

Vinous

The 2022 Ultreia Rapolao from Valtuille, Bierzo, is a blend of Mencía and Trousseau. The 2022 gains lift with mint, pomegranate hints and a touch of volatile acidity. New oak and laurel add balsamic tones. Compact and juicy, it layers flavors without heaviness. Fruity and intense, it blends Old and New World Mencía styles through balanced use of oak and freshness.

drinking window 2025 - 2040

date of review 02/2025

95/100

Luis Gutierrez,

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2022 Ultreia Rapolao matured exclusively in foudre, as they have eliminated the barrels for the elevage. The dead plants in the vineyard were replaced with Pan y Carne (a local strain of Trousseau), and those plants have started producing grapes. They have also lowered the maceration time in this wine, and the lighter grape and the lighter vinification seem to have compensated for the additional concentration of the warm year. The foudres had been used for whites before, so the wood is still a little new and seems to have given the wine a faint creamy texture and nose. The nose is clean, and they have avoided the reduction that happened in some previous vintages. It's juicy and medium to full-bodied, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins. 1,600 bottles produced.

drinking window 2024 - 2030

date of review 06/2024

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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.