Vintage: 2020.
D.O: Bierzo.
Grape variety: 85% mencia, 12% alicante Bouschet,
3% white grapes.
Area of the plot: 0,3 hectares.
Soil: limestone.
Vineyards altitude: 620 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 3 th, 2020.
Fermentation: in 1.000 liters containers.
Temperature control: no.
Filtration: no.
Alcohol: 12,5%.
Production: 1.511 bottles.
 
The motivation to make Sufreiral was to create a
wine from a place in where nobody makes wine
only with its grapes. Other distinguishing features
are: altitude, ventilation and limestone soil, rare in
El Bierzo.
Sufreiral was in the past a very desired area, due
to its orientation and limestone soil.
The intention of the wine is to represent the place,
intervening as little as possible on it, working as it
was done before, with whole grapes and without
using pumps.
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 35% of stem, in containers of 1.000 liters.
The grapes are softly stepped on, so Elaboration:
We picked the grapes manually, putting them to
ferment in 1.000 liters containers, with a 25% whole
grapes.
The grapes are gently stepped on, so that a part
of the grapes remains whole in the fermentation,
which is carried out spontaneously by the yeast itself
without adding any other.
The maceration was carried out during 40 days in
which the work of each day consisted of sinking
daily the cap a bit with the hands.
After 60 days, the bleeding and pressing is done,
to let it settle for 7 days; after them, it is placed in a
600 liters barrel and left to rest for 1 year.
Aging:12 months in French oak barrels of 500 and
600 liters.
Bottling: November 12 th, 2021.