Description
Wine Details
This wine comes from various parcels of organically tended vines around the village (averaging 80 years old) planted in the typical sandy, red clay soils (where there is quite a high iron content) giving a yield averaging 25hh.
The production is less than 20,000 bottles and its presence in the market does not usually last beyond a few months. Anyone who has a glass of Quite repeats, seduced by its balsamic perfumes and sweet spices.
Alcohol Grade: 13%
Aging/ Vinification: Spontaneous fermentation with destemmed grapes in stainless steel tanks. 15-day cuvaison and aged for seven months, half in 800 ltr amphoras and half in 2-3 years old oak barrels.
Best to have it: 14-18ºC
Size: 750 ml
The Winery: Veronica Ortega (Valtuille)
One of the most interesting figures among the new generation of producers working in Bierzo, Verónica Ortega grew up in the sunny city of Cádiz in southern Spain, but feels at home in the green hills of Bierzo in León.
Verónica’s background is impressive. She trained at Domaine de la Romanée Conti and Domaine du Compte Armand in Burgundy, worked the harvests with Daphne Glorian and Álvaro Palacios in Priorat and was winemaker at Domaine Laurent Combier in Crozes-Hermitage (Rhône).
Like other young newcomers in Bierzo, she started making her wines at Raúl Pérez’s winery in Valtuille. Verónica was still in France when she produced her first wine in the 2010 vintage but settled down in the area in 2012. She eventually found a small, modest place for herself in Valtuille. It’s a small winery, where oak vats rest next to clay vessels, barrels and Zalto glasses on hand for tasting.
“Mencía is a round, voluptuous grape and stems serve as a backbone to add freshness and tension,” Verónica explains. “At the beginning there are some green notes and a certain astringency that needs to be polished, but on the long run you obtain finer wines.”
