History Raúl Pérez
Raúl Pérez is one of Spain’s most popular winemakers today. Everybody wants to buy his wines! And everybody talks about them, even though there are few who have ever tasted them! Raúl makes wines in many D.O.’s and regions, and not only in Spain, but also in South Africa, Portugal, South America. La Buena Vida has been following him since the year 2000, when he was working at Castro Ventosa, his family estate, in Valtuille de Abajo. Then he worked as an oenologist-consultant for other estates in El Bierzo. He raised the Mencía grape to unprecedented heights; he helped Ricardo and Alvaro Palacios to start their prestigious project and meanwhile, took an interest in all sorts of wines in the world. And as Raúl’s passion never sleeps, he always goes further. From 2005 to 2007, he left the family estate to embark on a wine odyssey. In these two years, he became a star in the wine business. His motto: to make authentic wines with each region’s typical old grapes. In his own words: “I prefer to make an undrinkable Galician wine but with at least a true Galician character”. He made dozens of wines in a number of places, especially in the northwest of Spain, but not only. Including some wines he was never able to sell! This way of working brings him a lot of experience, which he put to good use in trying to express the maximum from each local grape. Today, he is making (or consulting for) more than 80 wines. He also recently had two mini-cellars built for his own use. One in the Tierra de León area, in the village of Valdevimbre, and one in his native Bierzo. There, in Salas de los Barrios, he produces his Ultreia, the quintessence of the Mencía. Raúl always works organic, as naturally as possible. He uses very small doses of SO2. The wines he sends us are always in very small quantities, too. And what’s more, we never quite know what he will be sending us. That is Raúl Pérez all over! So you had better order quickly and in advance! Raúl’s creations deserve it. Because with them, we enter another dimension, almost metaphysical. So thank you, Raúl!