Vintage: 2020.
D.O: Bierzo.
Grape variety: 85% mencia, 10% alicante Bouschet,
5% white grapes and other varieties.
Area of the plot: 0,3 hectares.
Soil: clayey with a lof of organic substance.
Vineyards altitude: 540 meters.
Age of vineyards: more than 100 years.
Climate: continental and atlantic climate.
Planting density: 4.000 - 7.000 plants per hectare.
Harvest: manual.
Irrigation: no.
Production: 2.000 - 3.000 kg/ha.
Date of harvest: September 2 th, 2020.
Fermentation: in containers, separating parts of the
plot.
Temperature control: no.
Filtration: no.
Alcohol: 12,5%.
Production: 1.536 bottles.
 
In one of the coolest areas of the village and
slowest ripening, we find El Rapolao, a place with
several plots belonging to different winemakers.
Its orientation, next to a large pine forest located at
the top of the spot, makes the sunrise sun reach the
vineyard 10-15 minutes later than to other Valtuille
vineyards.
The Rapolao 2019 is a wine from a plot with a west
orientation and a slight fall towards the north.
The intention of the wine is to represent the place
intervening as little as possible on it, working as it
was done before, with stems, without using pumps,
using gravity.
Characteristics of the vintage:
A rainy autumn (more than 500 liters/m2
between
October and Decembre 2019) gave away to a
dry and warm winter, which led to an advance
of about 15 days in the budding of the vines,
compared to the 2019 vintage. It had been tears
since the temparature in winter had been so spring-
like. It hardly snowed in the mountains surrounding
El Bierzo.
April broughts some showers, but it was atypical
compared to the previous vintages.
Summer arrived with a cool June, a warm July,
with nights with average temperatures fo even 20
degrees Celsius. On July 11th there was a storm
with hailstorm that damaged areas such El Llano,
El Foco and even touched El Rapolao a little. The
cloud crossed the town diagonall, passing through
these places. At harvest, we were surprised by the
quality of the grapes.
The vintage stands out for being a year of mild
temperatures, with round wines from the beginning.
The harvest started on August 27th. It was a quick
harvest to avoid concentration and alcohol in the
wines. This is a great quality vintage of white wines
in El Bierzo, and reds are characterised by their
elegance, fruit and finesse.
Elaboration:
We picked the grapes manually to put them to
ferment with 30% of stem, in containers of 1.000 liters.
The grapes are softly stepped on, so that one part
remains whole in the fermentation, which is carried
out spontaneously by the yeast itself without adding
any other.
The maceration was carried out for 12 days, in which
the work consisted of sinking daily the cap a bit
manually, without breaking it.
After, the bleeding and pressing is done to let the
wine decant for 7 days. After this process, the wine is
introduced in 500 liters barrels and left for a year.
Aging:12 months in French oak barrels of 500 liters.
Bottling: November 12 th, 2021.