Bierzo Tinto, 'Ultreia St. Jacques'

Score

94

"The 2021 Ultreia 'St. Jacques bottling from Ra£l P,rez is yet another excellent wine from these very old vines. The wine is a Menc¡a-dominated field blend made from ancient vineyards, planted between 1900 and 1940, so even the 'young vines here are more than eighty years of age! The wine is made with a high percentage of whole clusters and aged in a mix of various-sized, old oak casks and puncheons, as well as some cement tanks. The 2021 St. Jacques comes in at 13.5 percent octane and delivers a refined aromatic constellation of cassis, pomegranate, tree bark, espresso, a lovely base of dark soil tones, discreet Menc¡a botanicals and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, complex and full-bodied, with impeccable focus and balance, a fine core of black fruit, excellent soil undertow and grip, buried tannins and a long, poised and classy finish. This is certainly approachable today, but will be even better if the tannins are allowed at least a handful of years to soften up further. It is an excellent and very elegant vintage for this bottling! 2024-2075."

Score

93

"The biggest volume of the winery is the 2021 Ultreia Saint Jacques, which represents some 170,000 bottles, and according to Ra£l P,rez, it's the most difficult wine to make here. They now work a lot to produce this wine, a blend of 11 wines selected from the 17 they made. It's a wine that represents Bierzo and is from a year when they used more grapes from sandy soils. It has 13.16% alcohol and a pH of 3.66; it's serious and restrained but juicy and easy to drink. Seventy percent of the wine matured in barrel and the rest in troncoconic oak vats."

Score

92

Score

91

"The 2021 Ultreia Saint Jaques combines Mencía with small amounts of Trousseau and Tintorera from a vineyard planted in 1936. It's sanguine with pomegranate and cherry notes, offering hints of vibrant fruit, wood, crushed leaves and white pepper. Fermented with whole clusters and aged in older barrels, the 2021 is dry, with fine, active tannins, flowing agilely and leaving a lasting impression."

Score

91

"Crushed blackberry and boysenberry fruit is dark and ripe in this red, accented by hints of dried lavender, woodsy spices and a subtle underpinning of loamy earth and mineral. Fresh, with light, creamy tannins. Drink now through 2026. 10,000 cases made, 3,000 cases imported."

Score

16

"Strong rubbery nose. The palate has fresher black fruit but it still has a dominant tense, reduced character that makes it tannic and rubbery. One to age. (RH)"