Since the inaugural 2011 vintage, Raúl Pérez’s La Vizcaina de Vinos has established itself as arguably the highest quality, best value single vineyard range in Spain. Each wine reflects an individual terroir within the historic village of Valtuille de Abajo, the heart of the Bierzo region, and is produced from small plots and incredibly old vines of up to 140 years old and elevations that range from 500m to 650m, each with a different exposition and soil composition. The reputation and insatiable demand for the La Vizcaina wines belies their modest price tag, and they have quickly become some of the most compelling, traditional old world wines in the Justerini & Brooks portfolio. Produced with a philosophy of minimal intervention, they are fermented with wild yeasts and whole clusters in wooden vats with no temperature control, and are aged purely in neutral barrels of varying sizes. Raúl’s aim is never to imprint upon the wines he insists, but instead, to allow them to shine.
And shine they do. For in 2017, the wines capture the spirit of a warmer vintage with soft textures, beautifully suave, velvety tannins and layers of sumptuous, sexy fruit. On the white front, we have increased our allocation of the white La del Vivo 2018, released a year ahead of the reds. This electrifying Godello-Dona Blanca blend, primarily sourced from 80 year-old vines in La Poulosa with a drop of centenarian fruit from Las Villegas thrown in (the source of Raul’s famous Ultreia de Valtuille), is the best vintage we have tasted so far. Racy but poised, with a flinty, salty profile, citrus and stone fruit, and bags of energy, it will appeal to lovers of superior Cote d’Or and Loire Valley whites, at a snip of the price. Given that the whole range is available at under £100 per six bottles in bond, we recommend buying two or three different cases and opening bottles side-by-side to compare. The good news is that while young bottles can easily be enjoyed over three or four days, so there’s no need to rush them - would that restraint so easily be counted upon!
Read More“This is a superb collection of terroirs within the village of Valtuille de Abajo. As I said, maybe one day these vineyards will be bottled by other producers, and hopefully followed and studied like the vineyards in the villages of Cote de Nuits!” – Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate.
“Pérez is constantly issuing a stream of small-production wines, both reds and whites, from not just numerous single vineyards in Bierzo, but also from Ribeira Sacra and half a dozen other regions in Spain— and from Portugal’s Douro zone as well. He’s only 47 years old and he’s already “fathered” nearly 100 different wines over the years. Simply being Raúl Pérez is a full-time job. Making some of Spain’s finest and most intriguing reds (and whites too) is just the by-product.“ – Matt Kramer, The Wine Spectator.
“It’s not because of their concentration that Pérez’s wines stand out; rather, they conquer your palate in an unassuming way, gradually displaying unequalled elegance and discreet persistence. The winemaker knows that this complexity comes from harmony rather than from abundance. However, there is not a ‘Raúl Pérez style’. The only traits common to all his wines are an understated delicacy and subtle balance, together with a feeling of identity.” – Pedro Ballesteros MW, Decanter.