Estévez Bodegas y Viñedos Versos de Valtuille Casares 2022

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We’ll keep this short as we don’t have a lot of these bottles, and Parker’s 95 point review – plus our 50% discount – ought to make it an easy yes.

Our buying team was extremely pleased to get a portion of this wonderfully complex single-vineyard Mencía – especially since just five barrels were produced.

There’s a lot of spirit and sincerity here. Estévez Bodegas is a highly respected boutique winery that came into its own in 2015 when proprietor Helios Estévez – who had joined his poet father in exile in Mexico during Spain’s Civil War – finally returned to his homeland. The Bierzo region lies in the province of León, in northwestern Spain, and Estévez’s Casares Vineyard is one of the region’s highest sites. 75-year-old vines are rooted in pebbly, iron-rich clay and planted as a red and white field blend – this 2022 bottling is 85% Mencía, 10% Alicante Bouschet, and 5% Palomino. So lovely. Wine Advocate calls Casares their most complete bottling, and praises its “complexity, depth and a silky texture with very elegant tannins.” Again, 95 points!

We love the round black fruit stuffed with licorice and spices, seemingly stitched closed with thick satin thread. A veil of frisky minerals keeps it lifted. You have to taste this yourself – the sense of place is phenomenal. By the way, if the wine's long name frazzles your mind: “Versos” is Spanish for “verses” – a nod to the defiant poetic soul at the heart of the family, and the land’s ability to speak through wine. “Valtuille” translates to “tile valley,” so named for that red clay. Grab this rarity before it’s gone.