Description
Raúl Pérez is the winemaker most often credited, alongside Álvaro Palacios, with putting Bierzo on the map. Castro Ventosa is where it all started for him - his family's estate in Valtuille, where the Pérez clan have been tending old vines for the better part of 250 years and where Raúl ran his first harvest at just 22.
This is the village wine, drawn from century-old vines planted as a field blend of Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, Trousseau and a few white grapes, all on Valtuille's sandy soils. César Márquez Pérez, whose own label has built a reputation for real precision, now makes the wines alongside Raúl. They fermented it with wild yeasts and a portion of whole bunches in oak vats, left it on skins for around 40 days, then aged it in old, neutral barrels of a few different sizes.
2023 was a fresh, pure year in Bierzo, and the wine sits at a light 13%. Expect sour cherry, a floral, almost geranium lift and a juicy, chiselled palate with very fine tannins. There's more going on underneath than the weight suggests. It's great with roast pork, lamb chops or a bowl of chorizo and beans, and will happily sit in the cellar for a good few years.
Old vines, a great family and a seriously gifted pair of winemakers, at a village-wine price.
94 points
"The palate is juicy and balanced, linear and chiseled, with a nuanced structure and impressive precision."
- Jacobo García Andrade (James Suckling)
94 points
"It showcases the year, which was a year of purity and freshness, with very fine tannins and great balance."
- Luis Gutiérrez (The Wine Advocate)
Castro Ventosa
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Common Questions
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For orders under this amount, delivery is calculated at checkout based on your postcode. You can order in any quantity or combination of wines you like. Straight dozens are not required.
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No, all prices are set at the full discounted dozen rate already.
Most wine retailers list at a single-bottle price and then discount 10–15% when you buy six or twelve. We've taken the opposite approach. Since the overwhelming majority of our orders are already 6 bottles or more, our list price is set for the case buyer from the start. There's no inflated single-bottle price to discount down from.
What that means for you:
- One price, same for everyone — no minimum to hit to unlock the best rate
- No mixed-six gymnastics to qualify for a discount
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Put simply: the box discount is already baked into the price.
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