Wine of the week — Spanish Wine Collective

A top oak-aged Mencía from Bierzo vigneron Pablo Valle.

Siete Cuartales Crianza 2019 (Bodegas Valle Blanco)

D.O. Bierzo

Variety: Mencía

ABV: 14%

€26.00

Drinking window: 2029-2030

Orders and enquiries: Pablo Valle Tel: +34 662 29 42 41

Siete Cuartales Crianza came into the world in 2014, when Modesto ‘Pipo’ Valle, in a bid to remain competitive in a volatile domestic wine market, decided to take the bull by the horns and make a barrique-aged Mencía that would bring together the best of Bierzo tradition and modernity.

The vineyard was planted in 1945 in a kind of hollow on the slopes of Cerro de Toral. This means the vines are isolated but benefit from stable temperatures throughout the year. Yield is low and the berries are small. Once said berries reach the winery, they’re de-stemmed and then pressed. The resulting must is then pumped into a stainless steel vat for alcoholic and malolactic fermentation.

Once fermentation is complete, it’s gravity-racked into French oak barriques (Taransaud & Radoux) where it’s aged for a period of 12 to 18 months. After that they rack it back to the stainless steel vat, mainly for the purpose of homogenising the wine and usually for no more than three months. The very last step is a six-month repose in the storeroom before labelling and shipping out to customers.

Pablo Valle, who took over the running of the bodega from Modesto, recommends opening the bottle 14 minutes prior to serving and this I did. The nose is slightly pungent, with notes of near-ripe cherry and minerals which terroiristas here no doubt attribute to the schist soil of Otero de Toral (431 m). In the mouth there’s some grip and a certain sweetness in the tannins that gives it a pleasant, chewy rusticity that’s solidly backed up by the aforementioned fruit and structure from the oak.

Siete Cuartales Crianza saw off my slow-cooked Cachena beef cheeks magnificently, though I can’t wait for next winter to try it with El Bierzo’s signature dish, Botillo, which is spicy ground pork with shards of rib and lard stuffed into a ciego or pig’s intestine and smoked-cured.

If you’re interested in discovering the well-crafted vigneron wines of El Bierzo in the historic province of León in north-west Spain, the wines of Bodegas Valle Blanco are a very good place to start your journey.

Check out Adrian’s interview with Pablo Valle published at the Spanish Wine Collective.