Valtuille Vitoriana, Bodegas Castro Ventosa 2020

The 2020 Valtuille La Vitoriana comes from one of the family's oldest plots, one of the oldest vineyards in the village too, a place with more clay. It is still marked a little by the oak, perhaps the effect of the year, because the barrels were fourth use. It fermented with 30% full clusters in an oak vat and matured in a single 500-liter oak barrel. It has 13.47% alcohol and a medium-bodied palate with fine-grained and chalky tannins. 580 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2022. 2023 - 2030

The Vitoriana is fine-boned and precise in 2020. Highly fragrant with cherry blossom and violet, together with a little struck match rediction, it is immediately enticing. The airy fruit shows the same cool sheen on the palate, weightlessly intense and chiselled into the fine grained tannins. A wine of pure vibrancy and deceptive length, it is vertical rather than broad. Delicious now, it will doubtless evolve beautifully in bottle. Ethereal.