César Márquez Pérez El Rapolao 2024

El Rapolao is made by César Márquez Pérez in Valtuille de Abajo, in the Bierzo. Trained at the family winery Castro Ventosa and in Mendoza, and nephew of the celebrated Bierzo winemaker Raúl Pérez, he works small lots from the area's best old vineyards under the La Vizcaína label. The wine is mostly Mencía with a small share of the field's other old red varieties. Bierzo lies in a sheltered basin in north-west Spain where Atlantic and continental influences meet, and the best sites are slopes of slate and quartzite that drain freely and force the vines deep, giving wines with freshness, fine tannin and a mineral cut. Farming here is respectful and low-intervention. Ageing is twelve months in oak, used barrels that soften the wine through slow oxygen exchange while leaving the fruit and site to lead. The colour is bright medium ruby. The nose shows wild raspberry, red currant, violet and crushed herbs over a graphite, faintly smoky minerality. The palate is medium-bodied and fresh, with silky tannin and a long, savoury finish. Serve at 15 to 16 degrees, lightly chilled if you like. It suits duck, game and roast chicken.