I drank this wine over two nights and felt the same way after listening to soft music while on hold on the first night. This should be a better experience. A Tuesday night wine that offers nothing unique, noteworthy, or memorable. I guess the politest thing I could say is that the wine is wet. My wife had a glass and asked if it was a merlot since it was purple and smooth. I said no and she then asked if this was a Beajolais, when I said it was a Rioja her answer was there are 100 unique Riojas that cause you to pay attention and sit up and why is she drinking this one. This is the type of wine for those that live in the suburbs with two kids and have given up on life as they coil their pinky around the wine stem and count the hours until they can take an Ambien and fall asleep.
The second night the wine was just vile. Tasted like Grape Robitussin. Chemically and harsh.
The Ultreia St Jacques isnât a Rioja, itâs Mencia from Bierzo. Iâm surprised you didnât care for it as itâs almost universally beloved on here as a QPR wine. We go through quite a few of these as nice backyard wines.
Your review clearly wants to make a point and is hoping for cleverness points, but it doesnât sound anything like the wine Iâve had (ignoring the mistaken variety and appellation). And if you can find any Raul Perez wines in a grocery store in Spain at any price, Iâd be surprised.
Canât say for sure if Iâve had the 2018 or not, but Iâve had multiple vintages â thick, sweet, and chemical are the last way I would describe the bottles Iâve had.
I am a suburbanite and I raised 2 kids!
I donât take Ambien and, since I am such a klutz, I use stemless glasses. Maybe that disqualifies my opinion.
Perhaps this wine is not your thing, but it sounds like you got a flawed bottle. The flavor profile of Mencia is not similar to Merlot. Hope you have better luck with your next bottle.
The glass I had of Ultreia I had a few weeks ago was pinot like if anything. I wish I had taken a picture of the food we had with it - braised pork cheeks, and then some charred octopus. Those were really visually appealing, even if they donât sound that way.
The only other Bierzoâs Iâve tried were the entry level âPetalosâ bottling which is ok. These arenât very Riojanes to my tastes.
The problem is clearly that they were drinking the Rioja version of this particular Bierzo wine, which is obviously a different experience than what you would have trying the Bierzo version of the Bierzo wine. I am impressed at the global price sourcing work heâs put into these posts. They are offering free overseas shipping right?
Iâm also a fan of this wine for value. I think it has quite a distinctive character, generally on the elegant side of the Mencia spectrum, which I enjoy. Raul Perez wines can be hit and miss for me, but this one seems pretty consistent. Different people, different tastes.
Please tell me which supermarkets you can readily find it in Spain as Iâll buy it up. Each to their own recognising that everyones taste buds are different
I live in Spain now and I have never seen this wine below 9-10 euros per bottle. Normally you will pay 11-12 over the internet.
I will give @Jason_Samansky that I have always believed MencĂa-based wines are a learned taste. They normally produce light wines with strong minerality. Sometimes they remind me of Bourgogneâs Pinot Noirs. So, for instance, if your taste errs toward full bodied Cabernets or Merlots it is unlikely that you will like RaĂșlâs wines.
Having said that, MencĂa is a very versatile grape and vinification techniques can lead to very different wines. Yesterday precisely I opened a bottle of 2011 Ultreia Valtuille (a couple of levels above the basic St Jacques; sells at about 45-55 euros) and I was surprised to find a very full bodied, complex and extracted wine that I would have never related to more recent Valtuilles.
Sure. Erorski, price depends on which city, can easily source the wine and other places around Leon, Ourense and the Gallicia area all have various supermarkets that sell it.
Iâve spent a week or more in Galicia every year for 10 years now. Iâve never seen Raul Perez of any sort in a grocery store for 4 eur, at least not any time recently. In fact, plenty of wine shops lament that his wines are now allocated.
No wonder you know about RaĂșl, Sarah! I am from a small town in Orense, Viana do Bolo, near the place where Rafael Palacios produces his incredible whites (Louro, As Sortes and Soro). Also very near from another interesting winery: Dominio do Bibei, which produces also incredible Godellos and very interestiing MencĂas.
I imagine you go closer to the coast (Pontevedra, perhaps?) where RaĂșl produces another of his superb whites: an Albariño called Sketch.
Weâve stayed all over, including Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, O Grove (most often), and Pontevedra. So mostly near the coast, yes. We love Galicia and Galician wines (not to mention a good gin or two!) The Sketch is very good, but I think the Atalier is probably my favorite of his. His Rara Avis, made in an oxidative style, is also excellent, though might not be for everyone. I have found itâs easier to acquire Raul Perez wines in the US than in Spain, to be honest, though there are many other fine producers that are the opposite.
The region has become very famous after a few Amazon documentaries on it. These used to be at the free prime level but are still worth watching even if it costs a couple bucks. One must have a glass of albarino in hand though.
There are such strong differences between the various bottlings; I imagine the same can be true between vintages. Do you generally find that, or is this an exception? Unfortunately I donât have as much experience as I would like. The higher end wines come into the US in such small quantities that itâs not usually possible to taste them without buying (and even finding some of them can be challenging).
There is definitely a strong difference between the Ultreia Valtuille 2011 (I am just tasting the second half of the bottle that I opened yesterday) and the 2016 and 2019 that I have tasted within the last year. This 2011 could fool me for a left-hand Bordeaux! I know it sounds strange, but it does! RaĂșl may have changed to a lighter style over the years. But I already knew this can be done with a MencĂa because I have found the same in a very interesting Demencia de Autor, from Nacho LeĂłn (a young small producer in Bierzo). âDemenciaâ is a word-game (de-MencĂa -from the grape- and Demencia, which means madness in Spanish). Demencia 2013 is like this Ultreia Valtuille 2011: complex aromatically, dense and full bodied. Not light and mineral like you would expect from most MencĂas.
I would say CorullĂłn (plus Las Lamas and Moncerbal) is mid-way between the Bourgogne-like MencĂas and these more extracted Valtuille 2011 and Demencia 2013. Delicious, even if very different.
As for what you say about availability @Sarah_Kirschbaum I normally buy all of RaĂșlâs wines vĂa vivino.es, never in brick-and-mortar shops. And they are easily available and with frequent offers. Maybe you can pre-order them ahead of one of your visits to Galicia.
You may also want to try RaĂșlâs La VizcaĂna range. In red I recommend his Rapolao and Las Gundiñas, and in white he has a wonderful Godello called La del Vivo.
@Arv_R Thanks for the link to Amazonâs documentary! I will definitely watch it!
