A Merced del Bierzo El Canto 2015

"Even better is the other single-vineyard red, of which the first vintage, the 2015 A Merced del Bierzo El Canto, showed superb purity and delineation, with a more austere mouthfeel, very clean and focused. I first tasted it without having any information about the wine; I later tasted it again and Gerardo Michelini showed me the vineyard it comes from in the village of Ponferrada, where it sits on slate-sloped soils planted with mixed old vines. The grapes are all fermented together, reds and whites. The process was the same as with the Valdeviñas: full clusters with indigenous yeasts foot trodden in terracotta amphorae, where it was kept with the skins, pressed and then transferred to well-seasoned French oak barrels, where it was kept for eight months. The soils are very stony, with lots of slate and quartz, and the earthy texture of the tannins provided by the slate is quite obvious. Some 900 bottles were filled in January 2017".