Bodegas y Viñedos Castro Ventosa Mencía Bierzo El Castro de Valtuille 2005 - Parsing Spanish wines and labels
I remember I bought this highly recommended and rated Spanish wine at a wine shop in McLean, VA while on a trip to WDC several years ago. I've kept it to share with friends Bob and Gloria who have Latin ancestry and heritage. So it was that I pulled this out for dinner with them last evening with son Alec visiting home from NYC for the weekend to partake in the Cub's World Series regalia. It was a fitting accompaniment to Linda's beef tenderloin dinner.
Aside Bodegas El Nido Jumilla Clio which we collect and hold a vertical of a half dozen vintages, this is one of very few Spanish wines we hold in our cellar. I realize I know very little about Spanish wines. Hence, I took some time to parse the full name of this wine with all its names and syllables, as shown above. I see why folks can be bewildered if not overwhelmed by the complexities or intricacies of wines in general, or in this case, Spanish wines. It doesn't help that its a Spanish wine with Spanish terms and names, which exacerbates the situation in light of me being totally ignorant and non-literal in Spanish. I see why, and suppose folks can get equally tangled up in Italian and French wines and labels accordingly.
Few people realize that Spain has over 1.17 million hectares (~2 acres per hectare) of vineyards making it the most widely grape varietal
planted country in the world. However. Spain is the 3rd producing country
after Italy and France, due to the very low yields and wide
spacing of old vines planted in the dry and infertile soils found in
many Spanish regions.
Like Italy, Spain has an abundance of over 600 indigenous grape
varieties, although most of their production
comes from about 20 grapes including Tempranillo, Albariño, Garnacha,
Palomino, Arien, Macabeu, Parellada, Xarel.lo, Cariñena and Monastrell.
The source grape for this wine is
Mencía, a Spanish red grape varietal found primarily in the northwestern part of the country. Most wines produced from Mencía have characteristics of being light, pale, relatively fragrant and appropriate for early consumption.
Mencía is
indigenous from the Bierzo DO appellation and some suspect that it is an ancient clone
from Cabernet Franc.
Bierzo is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO), or appellation, known for wines located in the northwest of the province of León (Castile and León, Spain). The Bierzo D.O. is located in the northwest of the Province of Castilla y León, just above Portugal. Bierzo covers about 3,000 km² and borders the provinces of Ourense, Lugo and Oviedo in the north and in the south on areas of La Montaña, la Cabrera and La Meseta, in Léon.
The producer
Castro Ventosa was founded by the Perez family in 1752 and has been in the family
ever since. They have 75 hectares of
Mencía
vineyards in the appellation of
Bierzo, making them the biggest owners of this varietal
within the Bierzo D.O. (
Denominación de origen). The Bierzo appellation is made of 5000 hectares (ha) with 2500 planted with white varietals and 2500 ha planted with
Mencía. Interestingly, there are 5000 landowners within the appellation.
 |
| Rear label |
The current proprietor of Castro Ventoza is
Raúl Pérez, who runs the winery and has become a figurehead for Bierzo wines in
Spain. Castro Ventosa produces three different Mencía; Valtuille,
El Castro de Valtuille and El Castro de Valtuille “Joven Mencia”.
So then, lets parse this wine based on its label information -
Bodegas y Viñedos Castro Ventosa Mencía Bierzo El Castro de Valtuille 2005.
Bodegas y Viñedos is Spanish for wineries and vineyards.
Castro Ventosa is the name of the producer.
El Castro de Valtuille is the name of this particular wine.
Bierzo is the Spanish DO (Denominación de Origen) or appellation.
Mencía is the Spanish grape variety in the wine. Note the only reference to Mencia is on the rear label (shown left).
2005 - the vintage release of this bottle - all the grapes were harvested during this vintage year.
Tonight this wine was dark bright ruby colored, medium bodied, firm, tight, somewhat concentrated and coming across as a bit flabby, with black fruits with tones of spice, black olive, hints of cresote and tangy black cherry on the finish.
RM 87 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/notes.asp?iWine=269778
http://www.boutiquewines.info/wine.php?supplier_id=71&winename=El%20Castro%20de%20Valtuille%20-%20Crianza&varietal_id=49&country_id=5 
