2019 Raúl Pérez "Ultreia St-Jacques" Mencía Bierzo

Bright mid crimson. Really pure, polished fruit and a great, accessible expression of Mencía fruit. Attractive note of bitter cherries on the end. 17/20 points *Good Value* (JR)

Raul Perez’s wines have become the benchmark for Bierzo. He was not the first producer to bring the wines of Bierzo to the US. Over the last decade he, but most importantly his wines, have done more work to bring attention to the region and its most prominent varietal, Mencia. Bierzo is still not on most people's radar, that’s ok, most of Spain’s wine regions are a little mysterious. Bierzo is a Mountainous region that is in the Northwest of Spain, it is at the Eastern border of Galicia looking down upon Castilla and Leon. The elevation and the partial Atlantic influence define the region. It is an old region (back to Roman times) and those old vines (and Raul’s knowledge of them) are the biggest treasure of the region. Mencia makes intense wines but they are never big wines, the region is too cool. What has always captivated me about these wines is aromatic and flavor intensity of the wines and their relatively light body, they typically fall somewhere between a Pinot Noir and a Syrah in their weight on the palate. There is always a freshness to them. These wines are alive, they deliver a huge array of flavors and aromas with a dynamic energy. You are always glimpsing some new or another facet of something that you thought you pinned down. There is a little bit of a chase with this wine, I am always reaching out for an adjective, only to be pulled away by something else, and then something else, so on and so forth. The wine feels like and gives the impression of coming from a relatively isolated Mountainous region. The fruit has a snap to it, it is ripe, but just ripe. It is a mix of ripe and tart berries (red, black and all shades in between). There is a herbal tone to it, cool and dark, a mix of resinous leaves and woodsy bark. There is an earthy stoniness to it, that just shows behind the fruit and the herbs on the nose and then lingers on in the finish. There is a savory wild note to it too, not funky or dirty, it is not a hygiene thing, it is just a little more wolf than it is a Labrador. On the palette there are not a lot of tannins, but what is there has a little grip. It is fresh but it is not tart. This expression feels a lot more like a Pinot, a cooler coastal Pinot. The flavors are just as dynamic and shifting as the nose and finishes with a subtle spice and earth not playing against dark red fruits. This is an incredible every night wine, it could be a pizza and a ball game wine, a red to pair against a stew or braised meats, if you're adventurous a fried sardine wine. This wine can be as humble or extravagant as you want/need it to be. If you know this wine and producer this is another great offering, if not this is a perfect introduction.