Castro Ventosa El Rapolao

This is Castro Ventosa at its most exclusive: a rare, single-vineyard "Vino de Paraje" from El Rapolao, one of the most celebrated and coolest sites in all of Bierzo, where grapes command the highest prices in the entire DO. The vineyard itself is tiny — just 3.5 hectares shared among 20 owners — and Castro Ventosa's portion, planted on old vines over 70 years old in clay soils with an Atlantic-influenced continental climate, gives some of the freshest, most site-specific fruit in the region. First produced in 2014, El Rapolao is built primarily from Mencía with a touch of Alicante Bouschet and other historic varieties, fermented with a high proportion of whole clusters and matured in neutral oak barrels. The result is a perfumed, exuberant, medium-bodied red with real finesse, elegance, and integrated acidity.

Produced in tiny quantities — often just over a thousand bottles a year — El Rapolao is a true collector's wine from one of Bierzo's most respected producers, the Pérez family, whose roots date back to 1752.