A rising star in Bierzo, César Márquez combines his work at Castro Ventosa, the family winery, with his own solo project where he uses the new categories of village and paraje wines recently approved by the DO.
Márquez was born and raised amongst vines and wines. After studying oenology in Requena (Valencia), he spent seven years working with his famous uncle Raúl Pérez, first at Castro Ventosa, then helping him to launch La Vizcaína, but in 2017 Márquez took the reins of the family cellar.
He started on his own in the 2015 vintage in his hometown, Valtuille de Abajo, after restoring a charming building erected in the early 19th century, which once served as a wine cellar. Since then, Márquez has centered his efforts on creating a solid range of wines rather than buying vineyards. He currently owns under one hectare of vines in various plots passed on from his family plus half a hectare in San Juan de Paluezas. In this village with whitish, chalky soils that are rare in Bierzo he wants to produce a top red that could eventually become Vino de Viña Calificada (the equivalent of a cru classée).
With production standing around 30,000 bottles, the range of wines starts with Parajes (€15.50, around 20,000 bottles), a fresh regional, entry-level red that he has been producing since the 2016 vintage from grapes that he likes but don’t make the cut for other wines or do not have the quality he demands for his best reds. Valtuille de Abajo Vino de Villa (€19.5, slightly above 3,000 bottles) was sold as Las Firmas until the 2019 vintage. Grapes are sourced from vineyards on sandy sites like Villegas, El Llano or El Val, plus El Rapolao or La Vega.
Except for the north-facing plot he uses for El Rapolao (€32, 1,200 bottles), the vinos de paraje (lieux-dit) made by Márquez explore other villages and soils beyond Valtuille. Pico Ferreira (€32, 1,200 bottles) stands out for its freshness and finesse. Grapes are sourced from Zagalón, a steep site with poor slate soils and a northeast aspect in Corullón, at 710 metres above sea level. Sufreiral (€3, 1,200 bottles) comes from the village of Toral de Los Vados, on the opposite side of the same mountain. At 620 metres elevation, the terrain is gentler, with limestone soils that enhance the mineral notes over the fruit and provide a different texture and length . This is probably the wine with the strongest personality in the range.
All reds are made with varying amounts of stems. He has tried different approaches in this matter but nowadays his priority is to harvest earlier, when the fruit is crunchy, rather than sweet. Thus, he can keep alcohol below 13.5% abv. and add stems as needed to balance the wines and achieve extra complexity.
Finally, La Salvación (€25, over 2,000 bottles) is a white Godello made from very old vines grown in cool areas of Villafranca, Valtuille, and Arganza. It is an outstanding combination of weight and acidity.
Although the winery is always open to friends, Márquez does not offer wine tours -he doesn’t even a website . But the wines speak for themselves and have placed César Márquez among Bierzo's most prominent winemakers.
