Castro Ventosa Valtuille Villegas 2023

Castro Ventosa is the Pérez family estate in Valtuille de Abajo, in D.O. Bierzo in the province of León. The current generation, led by Raúl Pérez and his nephew César Márquez, works old plots of Mencía with a little Alicante Bouschet and other local varieties, farmed organically. Bierzo sits in a sheltered basin where Atlantic and continental climates meet, and the slate and clay slopes drain well and ripen the thin-skinned Mencía slowly, holding acidity and giving the wine its mineral lift. The 2023 spends twelve months in oak barrels, where slow oxygen exchange softens the tannins and knits the fruit to a savoury frame without burying the variety. It pours a deep ruby and shows ripe cherry and plum, wild red berries, dark liquorice and a graphite minerality, with light spice and a dusting of black pepper from the oak. The palate is medium bodied and fresh, the tannins fine grained, the finish savoury and stony. Serve at 16 to 17 degrees, ideally decanted for half an hour. It suits roast lamb, grilled beef and game.