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2015 Galia "Villages" Tierra de Castilla y León

2015 Galia "Villages" Tierra de Castilla y León

95RP
93JD
$39.99

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95

Wine Advocate

Reviewed August 2018
The regular Galia has been renamed and is now the 2015 Villages since there are two more reds in the portfolio this year. It's a blend of grapes from different soils in all the villages they work (Piquera de San Esteban, Fuentelcesped, Hontangas, Cuevas de Provanco and Trigueros del Valle), trying to represent the Duero Valley as a whole. It has an intoxicating, perfumed and really attractive nose full of flowers, wild herbs and spices. The palate is medium-bodied and has the elegance and poise the nose was pointing out, with ultra refined tannins, great balance and freshness. It has to be one of the most elegant wines produced from the Ribera del Duero zone, and it doesn't show any of the heat from the warm and dry 2015 vintage. They included the white grapes from their vineyards in Piquera, Fuentelcesped and Trigueros, so the estimated breakdown of the blend is 88% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha and 2% Albillo—and 100% produced in their own, brand new winery. All this must have contributed to a more relaxed wine, with perfectly integrated oak and a sense of harmony and elegance despite the 15% alcohol and relatively high pH (3.8). It fermented with indigenous yeasts, with some full clusters and aged in oak barrels and vats of different sizes for some 20 months. 14,559 bottles and 196 magnums were filled in June 2017. I was really blown away by this. (LG)

Professional Reviews

93

Jeb Dunnuck

Review Date: 03/2021
The 2015 Villages is based on 88% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha, and the rest Albillo, coming from various vineyards, 80% destemmed, and brought up in varying sized barrels. Lots of ripe black cherries, mulberries, dried herbs, cedarwood, and graphite notes emerge from the glass, and it's medium-bodied, with a firm, focused texture, ripe tannins, and outstanding length. I think the addition of stems here really gives the wine more complexity yet also a firmer, focused texture on the palate. A beautiful wine, it needs plenty of air if drinking any time soon, and I think it will be even better with 2-4 years of bottle age.

Staff Reviews

KW
Kirk Walker

Kirk Walker

Wine is Romantic, it is one of the reasons that makes it so captivating to so many of us. What is romantic will be different for all of us, again, that is why it is great. One of the most captivating things about wine, to me, is the rescuing of old vines. All anyone has to do it say "neglected old vines", from any region in the world and you will have my undivided attention. That is why I was entranced with the wines of Galia. These wines are essentially made from micro-plots of old vine Tempranillo. This wine is so expressive. It has a warmth and generosity that reminds me of summertime. There is a sitting on a grassy hill on a sunny but not too hot of a day warm clean earthiness rising from beneath the decadent, ripe dark berry fruit of this wine. It is summer. The fruit and earth are accented with spice and superfine herbal thing too. The wine just smells delicious. On the palate even more summery with more fruit and less earth but lots of intrigue. It is full, round and solid, built to impress but not bully. The fruit pops over a savory earthy minerality. The beautiful dark Tempranillo fruit sings. This wine is very much akin with its neighbors in the Ribera del Duero but there is a clarity and focus that sets it apart.

Notes

Home to Vega Sicilia, one of the world's most iconic wine estates, Ribera del Duero has been producing wine for at least 150 years, but only got its DO status in 1982. It's also home to a relatively new producer called Galia. This is Jerôme Bougnaud's project. Not familiar? He has worked with one of Duero's biggest names in Peter Sissek of Pingus and Quinta Sardonia. During that time, he began work on his own project by seeking out small, old-vine parcels at elevations between 750 and 1000 feet on calcareous soils, some almost 100 years old. Predominantly Tempranillo with a bit of Garnacha and Albillo, many of the vines are ungrafted. The raw material going into these wines is amazing. Small proportions of new oak are used, as well as a slight percentage of whole clusters. These are wines of purity and power with dazzling aromatics and seductive length. All of their wines are Vino de Mesa even though they could technically be classified as Ribera del Duero DO. This is not a criticism of the region, but rather an elevation of the sites outside of it.

Details

OriginRibera del Duero, Spain
Type/VarietalOther Red Wines
SKU1427204