2020 Valtuille El Rapolao
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2020 Valtuille El Rapolao feels lighter and more open than the 2021 I tasted next to it, the tannins a little more present. This comes from a centenary plot planted with a field blend that was vinified together with 30% full clusters and indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in 500-liter French oak barrels for one year. Some 1,700 bottles were filled in December 2021.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
85% Mencía, 10% Alicante Bouschet, 5% white varieties. Vino de Paraje. Old bush vines of 100 years old in the paraje El Rapolao (Valtuille de Abajo). Clayey soil. Spontaneous fermentation of whole bunches in a foudre of 3,000 litres without temperature control. Post-fermentation maceration for 60 days. After pressing the wine, it rests for 1 to 2 months, then is aged in used oak barrels of 500 litres for a year. 1,600 bottles produced. Tasted blind. Very ripe black fruit and pepper spices. Definitely more spicy than fruity on the nose. There is also a hint of leather. The palate is fluid, deeper and longer than wide. A telluric Rapolao in its literal sense – the most soil-oriented and deep-rooted Rapolao. (FC)