Ultreia La Claudina 2018

2020 / 94 puntos

They have lowered the alcohol and ripeness in most of the whites, but some vineyards are more difficult than others... The 2020 Ultreia La Claudina comes from a plot on sandy soils that needs higher ripeness to avoid excess bitterness. In 2020 it matured in 50% new barrels as they wanted to see how the wine behaved. It has power and consistence, but the style is a little different from what the wine was before, a little creamier and marked by the élevage. It's more exuberant and quite the opposite from the rectitude of La del Vivo. There are some 2,200 bottles from 1,700 liters of wine.

2018 / 95 puntos

Raul Pérez thinks 2018 is the best year he has seen in his 25 years of making wines in Bierzo, calling it the year of Balance. The whites are superb, even the 2018 Ultreia La Claudina, where there's always a little more ripeness from the sandy soil. They have used only barrels, and in 2018 40% of the oak was new, but in the future there will be a 1,000-liter oak foudre for this. The élevage is longer—17 to 18 months—and the wine develops more. The barrels are never topped up, so it's a little more oxidative. And in this vintage, there is some creaminess (perhaps the high percentage of new oak), with a showier profile, peachy juiciness, more volume and a spicy twist a little à la Jura, but more Meursault than Puligny. It's more expressive, rounder and juicier, less radical than some of the earlier years, spicy and with notes of fennel. 1,400 bottles were filled in late August/early September.