This article draws on the tasting conducted by Raúl Pérez at the Duero Wine Fest in Valladolid last month. He presented seven wines from El Rapolao, one of the parajes (sites or lieux-dit) included in the recent classification of Bierzo’s vineyards.
Raúl Pérez has been producing single-vineyard wines from El Rapolao under a myriad of brands: from Raúl Pérez Viticultor or Ultreia to La Vizcaína. He had registered El Rapolao as a brand, but when DO Bierzo approved the new vineyard classification, he decided to share it so that other producers could make wines with the site’s name. Paradoxically, he has decided against implementing traceability in the new villa (village) and paraje wines.
El Rapolao is located in Valtuille de Abajo -with 400 hectares, it is one of the villages with the biggest surface under vine in Bierzo. Vineyards are planted on gentle slopes running east-west. Pérez distinguishes between warm areas, such as Villegas, a site with distinctive sandy soils where he sources his Ultreia Valtuille; intermediate areas like Mata Los Pardos, with potential to have very good balance in optimal vintages; and, finally, El Rapolao, a west-facing site (the coldest exposure in Valtuille), which is best in warm vintages. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, when grape prices were set based on their potential alcohol, El Rapolao was one of the least sought-after vineyards. When Raúl started to make wine in Bierzo, the standard practice was to combine these three sites to have balanced wines.
Interest in El Rapolao grew in the late 2000s. A succession of warm vintages, combined with a general shift towards fresher, less extracted wines, meant that is was fermented separately. El Rapolao was first released by Raúl Pérez in the 2011 vintage at La Vizcaína, the brand for wines from traditional, over 50-year-old vineyards in Valtuille de Abajo. Incidentally, the first plot for that wine is now destined to Ultreia El Rapolao.
To a large extent, the launch of other Rapolaos was largely driven by Raúl Pérez himself. "I wanted this land to be farmed by people close to me and with a similar winemaking philosophy," he said.
Throughout the tasting he dissected the little over eight hectares shown on the map above (click here to see a higher resolution image), explaining the particularities of several plots, the specific origin of each producer's grapes and their winemaking decisions.
Pérez gave detailed explanations on exposure, grape varieties (believe it or not, there is a plot planted to Merlot in El Rapolao) and delved into some storytelling too. A local grower who planted oak trees among his vines had a terrible accident with his tractor and passed away on the spot. Following his death, the vineyard was abandoned and all that has remained are the trees. This plot is one of the green spots on the map. The larger, upper part with the same colour is now a pine forest that creates a shadow on the vineyards beneath, as they get less sunlight than they should.
As usual in Bierzo, the site is dominated by old vineyards with various grape varieties mixed in, except for one plot planted exclusively to Mencía in the 1970s. The secondary varieties reflect different periods. While Bastardo (Merenzao or Trousseau) and Malvasía are common in the oldest plots, Alicante Bouschet were planted later.
In terms of elevation, vines lie at 530 to 610 metres and those in higher areas ripen faster. Soils are mostly clay with different levels of compaction and with varying amounts of iron. There are also some sandy and stony areas. Plots 8, 9, 12 and 13 (see the map) are colder as they are oriented slightly north. At present, the entire paraje is usually harvested in eight days, but Raúl Pérez believes that the gap will gradually narrow as styles converge and yields are increasingly set before harvest time.
All the wines we tried were from the 2019 vintage and made by producers close to Rául Pérez, so he had a clear idea of how they were conceived and made. We only know of another Rapolao beyond the wines presented at the tasting: the one made by Michelini i Mufatto in their little winery in Toral de Merayo.
2019 was a humid year with changing weather, but the good conditions during the harvest sped up the ripening process. It was slightly warmer than the fresh 2018, but not warm enough to be considered Mediterranean. The Consejo Regulador rated the vintage as excellent.
The wines tasted ranged from 12% to 13% abv. and were mostly aged in seasoned barrels for 10 to 12 months. Not all of them were fermented with whole bunches as it is increasingly trendy in Bierzo; vatting times also varied notably. As a general rule, Pérez advocates for shorter macerations in ripe vintages and extended vatting in cooler years.
Dominio de Anza El Rapolao 2019, Diego Magaña. Purchased grapes are sourced from plot 4. This is a fairly compact, untilled soil; the earliest section to ripen and the first to be harvested in 2019. That year, Magaña changed his winemaking protocol: he destemmed grapes and reduced maceration times to 10-12 days in contrast with the long vatting periods Raúl Pérez is so fond of. The wine was aged in barrels and oak vats. Rich red fruit aromas with some herbal notes on the background. Open and expressive, with sweet fruit on the palate, enjoyable and lovely to drink.
César Márquez El Rapolao 2019. This wine is also made from purchased grapes. Plot 3 has distinctive stony soils and faces slightly north. César Márquez is Raúl Pérez's nephew. He worked with his uncle at La Vizcaína before taking over Castro Ventosa, the family winery, and starting his own project, so he knows El Rapolao very well. In 2019 he also decided to avoid stems. His wine was one of my favourites: more herbal and spicy than fruity, faithful to the freshness expected from the site, sleek and with fine tannins.
Jorge Peique El Rapolao 2019. Purchased grapes are sourced from plot 5, a small piece of land planted to red grapes on a gentle slope. Born in Valtuille de Abajo, Jorge Peique made his family's wines at Bodegas Peique for a long time but he is now the technical director of Conde de San Cristóbal in Ribera del Duero. Grapes were destemmed, fermented with some aeration ("oxygen is a polymerising agent", Raúl pointed out) and devatted one month later. Malolactic fermentation took place with skins, a standard practice in the region given Mencía's low pH. This is Peique's first Rapolao and only two barrels were made. This was one of the darkest wines, with a greater oak presence, but also with round tannins and a fuller mid-palate.
Pago de Valdoneje El Rapolao 2019, Vinos Valtuille. A close friend of Raúl, producer Marcos García from Valtuille de Abajo owns a plot in El Rapolao (number 11) with loose, somewhat darker soils. Half of the wine was fermented with stems in oak applying a reductive style; the rest of the grapes were destemmed and placed in stainless steel tanks with aeration and movement. The wine was then transferred to barrels before malolactic fermentation had taken place. A little shy at first, fresh herbal aromas appeared gradually. Round with elegant tannins and good persistence on the palate. Already approachable.
La Vizcaína El Rapolao 2019. The majority of the grapes are sourced from plot number 10 but in 2019 Raúl Pérez bought two other vineyards that were blended in (on the right side of the map, both marked with number 10). Pérez has been buying the grapes of the first plot for a long time. In the early days, nobody was interested in them but the price has increased considerably in tune with the changing trends in the area. This is an untilled plot, with soils varying from compact clay in the centre to looser land in the lower part and more sand higher up. In the owned parcels, the lower one features stony soils, while the one above is mostly sand. Both of them are ploughed.
The winemaking process was reductive with whole bunch fermentation and 60 to 65 days of maceration. The wine was aged in seasoned 500-litre barrels for 10 months. According to Raúl, this Rapolao shows the animal character of the vineyard (there were leather and barnyard notes), good depth on the palate but rather tannic right now.
Valtuille El Rapolao 2019, Castroventosa. Grapes are sourced from plot number 2, a south-facing old vineyard with a good amount of white grapes (mainly Dona Blanca) and fruit trees that block sunlight. This is the reason why it is one of the latest parcels to be harvested. Raúl described it as tricky, ever-changing and difficult to vinify, but also capable of reaching optimum balance. Whilst César Márquez takes care of the winemaking at Castro Ventosa, Raúl selects the barrels that will finally be bottled. Grapes were fermented with 100% stems, maceration extended between 35 and 40 days (thus malolactic fermentation took place with skins) and the wine was aged in 225-litre barrels. A fresh, spicy red, with lively fruit, firm, expressive tannins and discreet oak. A great introduction to El Rapolao for the average wine lover.
Raúl Pérez El Rapolao 2019. A very small plot numbered 8 and 9 on the map. This is the most elevated of the site and its compact soils have a high iron content. The vineyard is owned by Raúl's family, but managed by him. Pérez admitted this was "a selfish wine, without the seal of the DO, and represents a way of working". Bastardo (Merenzao or Trousseau) is quite abundant here and, in fact, some cuttings have been replanted elsewhere in El Rapolao. Production is so tiny that fermentation takes place with stems in a 300-litre amphora (it spends three months with skins) and is later aged in a single barrel. This was the greener, more herbaceous wine in the flight (apparently, amphorae exarcebate this feature), but also the most persistent and in need of further development. Alcohol was just 12% vol.
Of all these wines, only those made by César Márquez and Castro Ventosa are labelled as Vino de Paraje in the 2019 vintage. Pago de Valdoneje and Jorge Peique have applied for traceability in the 2021 vintage.
