(98+ points) The nose of the 2024 Cáreo is stunning. It's a cooler vintage, and the wine is serious, austere and elegant, ethereal and insinuating . It's a tad above the already stunning 2023. It was produced with the...
(98+ points) The nose of the 2024 Cáreo is stunning. It's a cooler vintage, and the wine is serious, austere and elegant, ethereal and insinuating . It's a tad above the already stunning 2023. It was produced with the grapes from a 109-year-old vineyard planted with Mencía, Palomino, Doña Blanca and a little Godello; in this ancient 0.9-hectare plot, the Mencía has thinner skins and the tannins are also finer. This is from the same zone as the white Tormenta in San Juan de la Mata, technically a village wine from Arganza, one of the few places in Bierzo that has limestone soils. Part (80%) of the wine fermented in a troncoconic oak vat with 100% full clusters, and the rest was destemmed and fermented in bins. The wine matured in separate 300- and 500-liter barrels for 12 months, then was blended and put in 880-liter amphorae, where it rested for another four months. It has a serious profile, with a finer-boned and more elegant palate. It is beautifully textured and very complete, with 13.4% alcohol, a pH of 3.75 and 5.2 grams of acidity. This is my clear favorite in 2024. It's very Burgundian, perfumed and elegant, very Chambolle-like.
-Luis Gutiérrez
