Raúl Pérez "Ultreia de Paluezas" Bierzo '22

Raúl Pérez carries himself with the sort of gentle humility that you might not peg him immediately as one of the premier iconoclasts of contemporary Spanish winemaking. But make no mistake - his pioneering work in both the vineyard and the cellar (although he would certainly give pride of place to the former) has helped elevate Bierzo, and its flagship grape, Mencía, to some of the loftiest heights in the wine world over the last several decades.

The trick is - he aims for invisibility. All spontaneous fermentation, minimal intervention, a subtle use of oak (using various ages and sizes of barrel), and a vast array of wine - over 200 distinct bottlings - to showcase the unique, vibrant personalities of tiny vineyard parcels. As such, he does not work according to rules or recipes - the vineyard dictates it's treatments year-to-year, month-to-month, day-to-day. He begins harvest according to the nuances of the season. Just as in a vine, flexibility is key to Raúl's existence as a winegrower.

His Ultreia de Paluezas is a blend of mostly Mencía, alongside Garnacha Tintorera and Bastardo (Trousseau, in France). The vines are 80 years old from the historic Finca Paluezas vineyard in San Juan de Paluzas, on a unique parcel of limestone, unlike the more common melange of slate, schist, and granite the region is known for. The wine is fermented in whole clusters in open top barrique, and aged for a year. The wine gives a soft note of dark berries, but also carriers a vivid portrait of dried flowers and sun-blasted herbs, and a long, lingering minerality. The palate carriers significant weight, with firm but fine-grained tannins, but enlivened by a sharp acidity. As with all of Raúl's wines, truly one built on images of his home - where verdant mountain slopes brush up against the sun-blasted plateaus of Castilla y León.