2017 La Vizcaina Bierzo La Poulosa
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Tasting notes
Bright ruby. Ripe red and blue fruits, licorice and an exotic spice nuance on the mineral-inflected nose. Appealingly sweet cassis, bitter cherry and blueberry flavors deepen, spread out and take on a mocha nuance with air. Subtly gripping tannins frame a long, smoky finish that emphatically repeats the blue fruit and floral notes.
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Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
Josh Raynolds
More reviews and scores
I tasted the 2017 and 2018 vintages of the La Vizcaína range, and the style of the years is radically different: 2017 is more Mediterranean (more Rhône-ish) with some sensations that make you think of slate, wines of more sun, and 2018 is truly continental, fragrant, more Burgundian. La Poulosa is always the rounder and riper of the four reds from La Vizcaína. The 2017 La Vizcaína La Poulosa is gentler, riper and a little more generous, and it's the one where the two vintages are less different. In this 2017, the sun of the year shows more—the palate is soft, ripe and tender, with moderate acidity. This is very approachable. Each plot now has barrels from a specific tonnelier, but they are moving toward larger barrels; in 2017, there was a significant percentage of 225-liter barrels that were replaced in 2018 and basically disappeared in 2019. 5,500 bottles produced. The 2017s were bottled in early May 2019, when the barrels were filled with the following vintage.