Michelini i Mufatto - Encrucijada 2022

Druvor

90% Mencía 10% Palomino

Vinframställningsprocess

• Vinframställningsprocess: Druvor odlas i 80-åriga Gobelet-beskurna vingårdar.
• Vinifierad med fottrampade (pigeage à pied) 100 % hela kluster, följt av jäsning i leramforor och försiktig maceration utan att implementera överpumpningstekniken.
• Fermenterad med inhemsk jäst, och därefter macererad i 5 månader i kontakt med pressrester och fruktkött i två månader.
• Nio månaders lagring på använda 500-liters franska fat, detta är en begränsad upplaga på 600 flaskor.

Tasting note

The floral and elegant 2022 Encrucijada comes from vines in the Alto de Valdecañada in the zone of Ponferrada and also has a beautiful nose. It has a moderate 13.2% alcohol and very good freshness and balance. In 2022, they reduced the amount of full clusters to around 70% in the fermentation in clay amphorae (tinaja). The wine matured in a 1,500-liter oval oak foudre for 18 months. This is mineral, floral, complex, insinuating, nuanced and elegant, with depth, detail and filigree. This was the first vineyard they bought, so it's the one that has been worked organically and biodynamically for longer and is in the process of obtaining certification. The wine has a lot of energy, and during the tasting, I never thought about a warm year. 1,500 bottles were filled in February 2024.

The Michelini i Mufatto family from Mendoza keeps increasing their vineyards in Bierzo. They now have 9.2 hectares of vines around Ponferrada and are separating some of the plots and bottling more wines separately with references to the locations. They now produce around 50,000 bottles.

They only make red wines here, as the whites are sold through a personal project of Andrea Mufatto, called MA. The 2022s have a little more ripeness, reflecting the character of the warm and dry year, but the wines have freshness and balance and don't show any heat or excess. Some places take heat better than others, and Encinado and Post Crucifixión seem to be the two wines with more freshness. They have three new wines from 2022: a light red following ancestral methods of production and two "paraje" wines. I think the 2022s are a real triumph over the adverse conditions of the year.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate