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Item Number: 6965
UPC: None
Country: Spain
Region: Castilla y Leon
Appellation/AVA: Bierzo DO
Vintage: 2010
Grape(s): Mencia
Type: Wine - Red
Bottle Size: 750ml Pack: 6
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 13.5
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
Elevation: 1,731 feet
What Makes this Wine Unique? A single-vineyard wine made from a 1.1-hectare (3 acre) plot planted in 1908. 315 cases are made for the world. Compared by The Wine Advocate’s Jay Miller to a great vintage of legendary Grand Cru Burgundy Romanée Conti. Since 2005, Ultreia de Valtuille is one of only three red wines in the world under $85.00 to receive 99 points.
Vinification: Whole clusters with stems undergo a pre-fermentation“cold soak” maceration and fermentation. The skins and stems are macerated with the wine for 90 days! The wine is usually pressed off during the month of December. This method showcases silky smooth tannins on the mid-palate while preventing the harsh, bitter, green seed tannins from being released, since the grape remains encapsulated longer. Fermentation and post fermentation maceration are carried out in large, 1,500-liter French oak foudre. Stirring of the lees (batonnage) is practiced while the wine is aged for 12 months to enrich the wine’s texture.
Food Pairing: With very complex mineral, spicy, crushed red fruit and forest floor aromas, this wine has an incredible, velvety palate presence that is pure and intense. Similar to a mature Grand Cru Burgundy or First Growth Bordeaux, pair this wine with the finest cuisine constructed of simple but constructed layers of flavor like oven-roasted duck, medallions of venison, grass-fed or Kobe beef steak, or simply prepared, pan-fried merluza (hake). The wild red berry profile of this wine should pair extremely well with wild mushroom varieties like chanterelle, hen-of-the-woods, chestnut, oyster, enoki, and morels.
93pts (2011 vintage) International Wine Cellar 10/2013
"(made from Mencia vines that were planted on sandy soil in 1908; aged for a year in French oak): Brilliant violet color. High-pitched black and blue fruit aromas are complicated by suggestions of white pepper, Asian spices, lavender and smoky minerals. Lively, sharply focused blueberry and floral pastille flavors are framed by silky tannins and gain richness with aeration. Leaves suave notes of blueberry and black raspberry behind on the spicy, impressively persistent finish, which shows just a hint of tannins."
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