Weingut über:
El Rapolao
-- Weingut: 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 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. After a dry 2022 throughout Spain, 2023 began with a very cold, rainy winter with strong winds, like those of our childhood. Frost and cold days lasted until spring, which advanced with warm days, threatening an early bud break. After a warm and rainy May, temperatures dropped again in June. Then came more rains and thunderstorms along with some very hot days. This weather made us especially vigilant to avoid the appearance of mildew. July and August were characterized by moderate temperatures. In September the grape harvest began, with plenty of grapes but not very large bunches. It was a vintage like the ones of yesterday; the rains made us harvest many days with waterproof suits. A year with a rainfall of almost 900 litres/m2 has given us wines with more fluidity, reminding us of the 2001 or 2021 vintages. Fresh, floral and more delicate wines than the previous vintage. We picked the grapes manually to put them to ferment with 25% 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 17 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.
