"This will make a lot of noise"
So much “noise” around it that I didn’t even write about it last year.
A few wine fanatics, true insiders of our portfolio, were already pestering me last year to get their hands on the wines from this new Raúl Pérez project. So once they arrived, everything was already sold. There are just so few bottles available.
“Viariz” is the name of the project.
Look what Gutiérrez wrote last year for Parker:
“They started in 2019 and have wines from 2019, 2020 and 2021, but nothing has been released yet and they are unsure how they are going to do it. I only tasted a small sample and was blown away by some of the wines. They still don't have importers either. It's very seldom that something like this flies under the radar, and I couldn't believe that Pérez was hesitant to show me the wines. The top of the range from 2021, called La Muria—the name of the vineyard—really made my heart beat faster. I was a bit unsure but wanted to follow my heart. I uncorked and drank another bottle a few days later, and the feeling was the same. A true coup de coeur!
This will make a lot of noise. Remember, you read it here first... :-)
The Viariz La Muria 2021 was immediately awarded a 100/100 score.
The very first vintage of a brand-new project… What an introduction!
It’s clear that Bierzo still has enormous potential.
Raúl’s “Valdecañada project” was already so overwhelming—and only saw the light because we insisted after more than five years.
As for
Viariz, it was
Luis Gutiérrez who convinced him (and yes, his voice weighs a bit more than mine 😉).
This is Bierzo and Mencía at the very highest level. Both literally and figuratively. After all, there is no vineyard in production located higher than this one.
La Muria lies at 1,045 metres altitude, making it just a bit higher than La Faraona.
Ricardo from Descendientes de J. Palacios actually sold this vineyard to Raúl. Ricardo didn’t see it working out himself…
These are extremely steep slopes, vines that had almost withered away, and a yield of barely 5,000 kg from 7 hectares of vineyard.
Sisyphus is never far in Bierzo…
But now you actually have the chance to buy this.
The 2022 vintage, admittedly a warmer year than 2021, has now arrived.
Extremely limited: 24 bottles of La Muria, 60 bottles of Viariz.
Do you want the absolute best of Bierzo in your cellar?
This is your chance: