César Márquez - ‘Parajes’, Mencía, Bierzo, Spain (2021)

TASTING NOTES

A slight note of earth and loads of perfumed red berry notes & dried herbs, but mainly this wine is all about the tension between the snappy acidity & crunchy red fruit and the velvety core. A long, long finish with chalky textural complexity and elegance.

High elevation, old vines (mainly 100 years+) from vineyards around the region of Valtuille de Abajo on slate, clay and sand soils. In its production, 50% stems are used. Fermentation is spontaneous with indigenous yeasts. Aged in 225 and 500 liter old, French oak barrels. 

Cesar Marquez' family has been making wine in Bierzo for over two hundred years and the winery is co-owned with his mother, María Isabel, uncles José Daniel and Raúl Pérez (as in that Raúl Pérez), and cousin Arturo.

He concedes that it is not easy to be Pérez' nephew, one of Spain’s most reputed winemakers, but he has been a major influence. Márquez studied oenology in Requena (Valencia) and has since been forging his own path, making delicious, evocative and terroir driven wines.