Versos de Valtuille Casares 2022 Red

Bodegas Estevez is proof that the love of the land transcends distance and time. Toño Estévez, a teacher at the Valtuille de Abajo school in Léon, went into exile in Mexico during the Spanish Civil War. His youngest son, Helios, followed in his footsteps when he came of age and settled across the Atlantic, although he never lost his links with his family's village in Bierzo.

In 2015, while still living in Mexico, he decided to start making wine from the family vineyards. Together with his four children, he bought a winery in the village and created the brand Versos (verses in English) de Valtuille, after the poems he used to write during the years when he was most homesick, evoking memories of his mother and the countryside of his childhood and adolescence.

The 2021 vintage marked a turning point with the arrival of César Márquez Pérez (Castro Ventosa, César Márquez) as technical director. He fostered a terroir-driven approach following the region's new classification with regional, village and site (Iieux-dits) wines, including whites, rosés and reds.
The range includes six vinos de paraje (lieux-dits wines) from Valtuille de Abajo like El Rapolao, La Vitoriana, Villegas or Mata Los Pardos plus the white Godello Pal de la Vega, but we want to highlight Casares 2022 as our wine of the week. It comes from a vineyard of great emotional value to the family and was one of our favourites at a recent tasting at La Caníbal wine bar in Madrid.

At an elevation of 620 metres, Casares is close to the Roman archaeological site of Castro Ventosa and is one of the highest sites in Valtuille de Abajo. The soil is clay with a high content of iron and pebbles. The grapes come from a 75-year-old west-facing vineyard planted mostly to Mencía, with hints of Alicante Bouschet and Palomino. The wine does not have the fine texture of Villegas or the weight of El Rapolao, but it is firm, with a distinctive aromatic depth that fills the palate beautifully, showing black fruit, liquorice, spice and a mineral edge reminiscent of graphite. This was one of the most characterful wines of the tasting.

1,000 bottles
€28-30.