New Arrivals

97 points Wine Advocate
The 2023 Pico Ferreira comes from a lieu-dit in the village of Corullon, a northwest-facing, shady slope planted with centenary vines on slate soils. It fermented with 30% full clusters and indigenous yeasts in 1,000-liter vats with 21 days of maceration and matured in a 1,200-liter oak vat and 600-liter barrels for one year. This is a little more discrete and remained closed after being in the glass for a while, whereas the other wines opened up. It comes in at 12.98% alcohol, with a pH of 3.57 and 5.36 grams of acidity, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins. 1,980 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2025.

Cesar Marquez Perez, Raul Perez's nephew, is one of the most precise winemakers in Bierzo with the family Castro Ventosa range and his personal project, which he started in 2015. In the 2023 vintage, he is releasing a new wine from the Villegas area, a lieu-dit in Valtuille on sandy soils. The single-vineyard wines are aging in increasingly larger oak containers, combining 1,200-liter vats with 500- and 600-liter barrels. He owns 7.2 hectares and works a further seven with local growers across Bierzo, from altitudes ranging between 450 to 850 meters above sea level. His production is slowly growing, and he now crafts 60,000 bottles per year.

As he told me while tasting the wines from the family winery, Castro Ventosa, which he also vinifies, "2023 was a cooler vintage with rain at the beginning of the harvest. The wines have a floral, serious and elegant profile with a contained alcohol content of 12.5% to 13%." These are some of the finest and more elegant wines he has produced so far.

#11 on The Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines Of 2025

95 points Wine Spectator
This impressive Pinot is polished and detailed, offering dynamic flavors of raspberry and blueberry, with mineral and brown baking spice hints that build richness toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2035.

93 points Vinous
The 2023 Pinot Noir Mt. Jefferson Cuvée blends dusty rose, licorice and orange-tinged wild strawberries. Soothingly round and pure in style, it offers crisp red berry fruits and mineral tones complemented by pretty inner florals. Gently tannic and long, the palate leaves a pleasantly chewy sensation and finishes with a tart cranberry twang. As of 2023, the Mt. Jefferson Cuvée uses 77% estate fruit. It is a fantastic value.

90-92 points Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the reds, the 2020 Gigondas La Gille is the base Gigondas and has a medium-bodied, supple, seamless style as well as classic spice, peppery herbs, and red and black fruits. It’s well worth seeking out and should easily be an outstanding wine.

Organic / Biodynamic

90 points Vinous
The 2023 Vire-Clesse has a lively bouquet with more yellow fruit than the other cuvees and touches of beeswax that develop in the glass. The palate is poised on the entry, lightly spiced with impressive harmony, a "fluid" Vire-Clesse with a persistent finish. A notch above the 2022

Organic

95 points Wine Advocate
The 2023 La Llorona is the fourth vintage of this Godello from a 38-year-old vineyard on sandy soils in the hamlet of Pieros, an elevated zone of the valley at some 500 meters above sea level. It's very sharp—the yields for Godello were very low in 2023, and the wines are concentrated; the grapes ripened early but kept a lot of acidity and salinity. It fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in barrels of different sizes, from 225 to 1,000 liters for 10 months. This only underwent partial malolactic and was bottled at 13.5% alcohol with a pH of 2.77 (!) and 6.2 grams of acidity. It is vibrant, with electricity, a fine thread and a super long and vibrant finish. It made me think of a Savagnin from Jura. 7,351 bottles produced. Drink: 2025-2033.