A 12 hour drive away from the legendary vineyards of Burgundy, where the climate is characterised as continental with hot summers and cold winters, lies Spanish Bierzo, somewhat milder in the winters and warm in the summers, it is a land composed of steep mountainous ranges that form a valley which fascinatingly has the highest density of old vines of any wine region on earth - in fact, 90% of the Mencia and Godello dominant vines here are between 80 to 100 years old!

The two regions are quite different, both in climate and terrain, and yet it is here in Bierzo, within the greater region of Leon just across from Galicia in the southern tip of Spain, that one winemaker dreams of elevating his wines to the same stature as that of Burgundy's. And to his credit, it's working. His wines are organised according to the Burgundian hierarchy of regional, village and single vineyard expressions, and before it can even be claimed that this is but a matter of mimicry, the reality is that Bierzo's 100 year old vines spread across the incredibly diverse terrain speaks to no other more accurate classification. Every parcel has proved incredibly distinct, shaped by its own pinpoint of soil and altitude, which is then translated into a multitude of stylistic differences via the winemaker's own hand. He's even got the region's winemakers on his side. In 2017, Bierzo DO received approval for its wines to be classified as such, a move that followed that of the now explosively famous Spanish wine region of Priorat.

That winemaker is Cesar Marquez.

Inspired by Burgundy and growing up in a winemaking family, Cesar looks to create wines that represent the uniqueness of Bierzo.

Cesar grew up amongst the vines, born as the ninth generation of the family behind Castro Ventosa, the most well-known winery in Bierzo founded in 1752 (Fun Fact: It is said that the ancestral founder of the estate had stated in his will that anyone attending his funeral should receive a glass of wine), he would train under and now works alongside his uncle, the highly regarded Raul Perez. Perez too grew up in Bierzo, and from the small village of Valtuille de Abajo, would go on to become known as one of the world's most visionary winemakers with his philosophy of minimal intervention, shaping his winemaking around the climate and the variety. Now increasingly embraced and accepted, Raul's work in allowing the land and the fruit to speak for itself was highly contrarian in the 90's when he had first started. His decades of demonstrating what was possible would lead a revolution known as The New Spain. He's since worked with the likes of equally renowned winemakers such as Douro, Portugal's Dirk Niepoort (of Port wine fame), as well as Alvaro Palacios, who is credited in no small part for putting Priorat on the map.

Raul Perez, perhaps the Dumbledore of Spanish wines!

And so Cesar would first learn winemaking at university in Valencia, do a stint with the Michelini brothers in Mendoza, Argentina (Cesar also expressed that if time permitted - which he didn't see likely - he'd have wanted to do a harvest in South Africa), before moving back home to quickly pick up the ropes from his uncle, Raul. Yet it wasn't long before his uncle saw much potential in him and at first a collaborative new brand was realised, named La Vizcaina, but within just a short few years, Raul would have Cesar work alongside him to lead the family's Castro Ventosa winery (the name meaning "Windy Castle" as it's situated on top of a hill surrounded by vineyards). Yet ultimately Raul understood that for Cesar to truly realise his own potential and make a name for himself beyond that of the family's winery, he would have to endeavour solo on his own project. Whilst the family's wines have a reputation to upkeep and thus remains more classical in style, Cesar's will instead seek to map Bierzo at its various viewpoints, demonstrating the wide palette of stylistics possibilities offered by the variety of terroir.

In 2015, Cesar would start work on his own winery (separate from his family's, although he still bottles his wines at Castro Ventosa to utilise the scale), at first with just 1 hectare, which would yield but 3 barrels of wine - tiny in comparison to his family's 85 hectares (making Castro Ventosa the largest owners of Bierzo's primary Mencia varietal, said to be an ancient clone of Cabernet Franc). Yet over the years he would continue to explore and scout for new locations where he believes there to be potential, opportunistically purchasing vineyards where possible. It is the only way to do so Cesar mentions, as Bierzo's land is fragmented amongst over 5,000 owners, most of whom have no desire to sell. That combined with the challenging rocky and steep terrain which disallows for any sort of commercial machinery to be used in the vineyards means that bigger companies will foreseeably remain absent from the region, leaving it untouched for only the most passionate and dogged of winemakers.

Bierzo itself is a deeply historic region, once home to the Romans who utilised the land for gold mining, and who were the ones who introduced winegrowing to the area. It later came into the hands of monasteries who continued to tend to the vines, before phylloxera wiped out much of what was planted into the late 1800's. This nevertheless cleared the way for the locally indigenous varietal Mencia to take stock, where it thrives on sandy soils not prone to phylloxera, and have thus proved long lived and still kept on their original rootstocks, many of which now close to a century old, if not older. The area can be characterised as a mountainous valley and enjoys an Atlantic to continental climate, with an altitude low enough to avoid winter's frost and yet warm enough during summer for grape ripening. Given the steep and deep slopes, its soils are wide ranging, from red clays and sand, all the way to massive deposits of slate and quartz, which in turn allow for elegant wines when planted higher up (due to rich minerals and poor fertility) and richer and more rounded wines when planted at the trough of the valley (from the more fertile, clay soils). It's a considerably unique microclimate that's been increasingly understood as being highly conducive for winegrowing and the producing of a myriad of well-defined styles. The region would eventually receive official recognition in 1989 with its Denominacion de Origen (DO) status conferred.

Cesar's vines often reach 100 years of age and are considered bush vines with a myriad of varieties planted in between. The indigenous Mencia nevertheless remains predominant (top-right), with the whites primarily of the Godello variety (bottom right).

And so in Bierzo there's less a matter of planting vines as it is a matter of finding the right parcels - the vines already exist. That said, given their veritable age, yield is unsurprisingly low (really low, as Cesar laughs with a sigh), but it is what is necessary in order for the vines to truly convey their provenance as he is quick to reaffirm. As a consequence of these parcels already having been in existence long before their would-be winemakers, the reality of the matter is that these are what is nicknamed bush vines - they're often not commercially planted and so typically are a mixed bag of varietals in varying proportions, although Mencia is still nevertheless the primary varietal. Parcels thus often carry interspersed vines of Garnacha Tintorera (or Alicante Bouschet), with also white varietals such as Godello.

And so as Cesar mentions, it's an endless journey of discovery for him as he searches for new plots, which serves as his palette from which he builds his name. Working out of his winery which was once a wine cellar that he's restored, Cesar produces wines as per the Burgundian classification, with his Parajes expression serving as the regional/appellation-level wine, his Valtuille (previously known as Las Firmas) the village-level wine, and then several single vineyard wines - El Rapolao, El Llano, Sufreiral and Pico Ferreira, with then just one white expression, the La Salvacion. This system of organisation goes hand in hand with Cesar's philosophy of producing terroir and varietal expressive wines representative of the DO at its varying perspectives. Yet taken as a whole they seek to allow for the world outside of Bierzo to best comprehend this very unique geography.

Cesar's winery comes from a restored 19th century wine cellar.

Given the influences with which Cesar was surrounded by as he grew into the winemaker he now is, it's not unexpected that some of his uncle Raul's thinking has rubbed off on Cesar's own farming and winemaking. But of course, it's again important to point out that where Cesar takes his own path lies more so to do with how he expresses Bierzo in varying levels of specificity as per the Burgundian frame of reference.

With the conviction that great wines start in the field, Cesar farms organically, and at the same time further differentiates himself from his fellow Bierzo winemakers in his earlier harvests, preferring his fruit to still remain crunchy and not nearly as ripe. This way, he is able to keep his alcohol levels a touch lower to showcase more expressiveness, whilst still holding on to its body. When asked, Cesar states that his ideal wine is one that is aromatic yet at the same time fresh and with a good body. He selectively adds stems, opting to ferment partially whole cluster and in open barriques, leaning towards a more reductive winemaking, with a small use of sulfur. Post-fermentation macerations are kept long, with wines put into old barrels without any racking or top ups for up to 12 months. Cesar's process is geared towards the preservation of acidity, whilst at the same time allowing for tannins to be extract as gently as possible and also softened through the use of natural oxygenation that the oak allows for.

A charming man who seemed like he could not wait to get back to working amongst his vines. When asked Cesar mentions that of the 20 or so schoolmates he had in his university winemaking program, almost all of them have since left the profession, yet he remains as convicted as ever of his desire to realise wines that reflect his beliefs.

As he closes in on a decade into his personal project, Cesar has always began to rack up a sizeable reputation for himself, with his wines already difficult to find in Spain (as a result of it being something of an insider's wine!) - will he be the one to finally push Bierzo into mainstream consciousness, beyond it's already sterling reputation amongst wine insiders? Only time will tell. Nevertheless when asked about what thoughts he might already have regarding his legacy, Cesar would talk of how it was about time that Bierzo's winemakers changed their minds about how wines should be made, and that as far as succession is concerned, he was happy to led his daughter (now only 20 months old) do whatever she wanted, and that it was only fair that she should get to make her own life choices, saying that "[you] cannot hold people today to the past". That sounds about right!

And so we have with us today a selection of 5 of Cesar's wines - the La Salvacion Godello, the appellation-level Parajes, the village-level Valtuille, and then two single vineyard expressions Pico Ferreira and El Rapolao.

Let's go!

PS. Cesar Marquez was down for just 1 day in Singapore to talk about his wines courtesy of WEA Wines and we got a chance to have a sit down with him and have him talk us through them and put his winegrowing and making to taste. TLDR: They were really distinct, ranging from elegant to rounded and accessible, well integrated acidity and softened tannins, and at an incredible price (all under SGD$80/bottle I believe) - hit up WEA Wines and they'll hook you up with some of Cesar's wines!

Wine Review: Cesar Marquez La Salvacion Godello

From the very versatile Godello varietal (that's also known as Verdelho in Portugal), this comes vineyards with clayey soils and slate at at altitude of 680m in Arganza, where these Godello vines are over 100 years old and grow between the Mencia vines! Godello in fact also went extinct but was thankfully revived in the 1970's as a result of winemakers stepping in. The wine was named La Salvacion in reference to how these Godello vines are often forgotten in the vineyards after all the Mencia has been harvested, and reflecting thus Cesar's desire to give them due attention. The wines had spent 12 months in 500-litre French oak barrels before bottling.

This is the 2022 vintage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw

Aroma: Gentle yet firm, it's giving plumes of white florals of elderflowers and honeysuckle, delivered with this rich and appealing creaminess. Some chewy white mulberries as well, with a touch of green leafiness and some yet to ripen white berries too. There's a slate like minerality that wafts through the bouquet.

Taste: Medium bodied, really rounded and supple, with an alluring creaminess.  Elderflowers lead, with then a brightness of the acidity that starts to develop, gentle and rounded yet prominent. It's filled in with gooseberry compote and a touch of mangosteens, coaxed with a vanillic creaminess. That minerality continues to run through the body, reminiscent of wet stone and spring water.

Finish: Seamless, really lush and supple, creamy and rounded, with tones of vanilla and gooseberries giving a light tartness. Crack of black pepper with then a lightly musky tropical white fruit that lingers.

My Thoughts

I found this to be really enjoyable, something that not only expressed its terroir but is just downright accessible and really enjoyable. It's aromatic on the nose with this beautiful bouquet of white florals that's backed up by some chewier white berries, then with this touch of leafiness that gives it that much more depth. The body here has a good richness yet isn't heavy, with a nice saturation that makes it rather fruit driven. It's seamless and lush, with a bright yet rounded acidity. It's altogether balanced yet with body, and little nuances that demonstrates its complexity and terroir. It's a subtle flex from Cesar if anything! If you like a white with more body and depth, without so much of that muskiness or too much acidity, then this one's for you (and me).

Wine Review: Cesar Marquez Parajes

This is Cesar's appellation level wine, the Parajes is made from approximately 85% Mencia, 7% Alicante Bouschet, and 8% of other varietals (including some white varietals), really more so reflecting the mixed varietals of bush vines that's in the parcels harvested. The vineyards here are 460-750m, with clay, slate, sand and limestone soils. The vines here are also over 100 years old.

Now Parajes itself refers to the region and so fruit from various parts of Bierzo were used here, including Valtuille, Arganza, Toral, Camponaraya, Villafranca, Valdecanada, San Clemente, San Juan de Paluezas and Hornija. Each plot is manually harvested and vinified separately. Treading was used to crush some of the grapes (that is, foot stomping), with the remaining 50% fermented as whole grapes. Fermentation was done naturally in open barrels as well as stainless steel tanks to strike a midway point of complexity and freshness. Maceration was rather long at 17-60 days, with then 12 months of barrel ageing, with no filtration or temperature control.

This is the 2021 vintage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: It opens alittle confectionary with red fruit tones of raspberry cream, which peels away to deliver more in the way of red cherries and a touch of black pepper, with also this herbal earthiness of eucalyptus and red licorice. There's a good richness here with also this underline of mineral spring water. With time it develops to a really vibrant and expressive bouquet of roses and violets, with an aromatic powderiness, backed up by raspberries and blackberries, as well as showing a more prominent chalkiness.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, rounded, it's really sensual with rose petals, dark cherries and blackberries, some vanilla, with still that mineral current. It's lush and velvety, tannins completely softened and relaxed yet firm.

Finish: Dark cherries, some of that vanillic creaminess, with also rose petals and this aromatic chalkiness. Light flecks of greenness. It's super aromatic and also seamless through the finish.

My Thoughts

This could well go up head to head against your favourite Bordeaux! It's really approachable, bold and vibrantly expressive, with a good amount of richness, already really soft on the tannins yet with a velvety firmness. There's red florals and red fruit, a nice development as it continues to open up with time and hangs on to its body. That beguiling suppleness of fruit and florals is then underscored by this minerality that comes through so well in the form of chalkiness and spring water. This is a really splendid wine that's a daily drinker. It's sensual and plush, and really easy to get into!

Wine Review: Cesar Marquez Valtuille

Now we come to the Valtuille, which is also the name of Cesar's (and his family's) hometown. This therefore village-level wine combines fruit from Villegas, Matalospardos, El Val, Las Gundinas and El Tesin de la Campana. It's again bush vines, and so estimated to be 85% Mencia, 10% Alicante Bouschet, 5% white grapes and an assortment of varieties - all over 100 year old centenary vines. Soil here is clay and sand, with the vineyards at altitudes between 510-560m.

This is the 2020 vintage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Garnet

Aroma: Immediately more chalky yet at the same time scented with sensual tones of rose petals, as well as a brambly mix of raspberries, blackberries and mulberries. Some more earthy red licorice and tobacco too, with just a faint touch of vanilla. It's got this air of dusty gravel that gives it this really alluring depth.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, raspberries and dark cherries, blackberries too, with some red licorice in there. Perfumed here as well with those rose petals. It's firm and yet supple with a good richness, really velvety and plush, with medium acidity giving it a touch of brightness here. The tannins are completely smoothened out yet firm.

Finish: Tones of vanilla, which combines with the red fruits to give cherry and raspberry cream. Those rose petals still coming through vibrantly here. Some of that chalkiness re-emerges.

My Thoughts

This has a really alluring depth of gravelly mustiness on the nose that I found super evocative, just above and beyond the perfumed red and black fruits, as well as rose petals. It feels really pure and fresh, like you're walking through a dusty, gravelly valley, absolutely wondrous. Whilst much of its flavour profile matches that of the Parajes, I found the Valtuille to be more elegant and delicate, and alittle less sort of that bold and in your face. The Valtuille struck me as being really self assured, almost letting you come to the wine rather than emanating towards you. It's also really plush and with a great balance of saturation and weight, with just a touch of acidity that brightens the body at just the right moment. 

Wine Review: Cesar Marquez El Rapolao

Finally we head into single vineyard territory. This comes from the El Rapolao vineyard, which is one of the coolest areas of the village and therefore the slowest to ripen. The vineyard itself sits next to a large pine forest which actually shades the vineyard for alittle longer than all the other vines in the area, in turn resulting in less ripeness and more acidity. Similar to most of Cesar's reds, this is 85% Mencia, 10% Alicante Bouschet, with 5% white grapes and other varietals - pretty much the bush vine mix where the vines are all of centenary age. The entire plot is just 0.4 hectares, with the vineyard characterised by ferrous clay soils with lots of organic leftovers, sitting at an altitude of 540m. 

This was fermented with stems and without the use of pumps, just purely relying on gravity, with the goal of trying to keep things as natural as possible with minimal intervention, allowing the vineyard's character to really show through the wine.

This is the 2022 vintage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: Perfumed with roses and then backed by deeper and darker notes of dark cherries, red licorice, blackberries and eucalyptus, this is incredibly svelte and alluring. With time it only raises its aromatic expressiveness with more on iris florals, tobacco and mulberries. It's more chiselled and well-defined, concentrated as well, and noticeably not as ripe.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, still really plush and supple, incredibly polished and again concentrated. This is less ripe and more well-defined, with dark fruits of dark cherries, raspberries, blackberries and mulberries, along with tobacco, black pepper and a little herbal quality of eucalyptus. The minerality comes through with some chalkiness, with the tannins polished and here with more of a firm grip.

Finish: Dark cherries, rose petals and eucalyptus pushes through the finish, as does that chalky powderiness. It's still very much supple and rich, whilst taking a more concentrated and chiselled structure. Touch of salinity and meaty savouriness, with that mineral quality lingering on.

My Thoughts

Perhaps the most elegant of the lot, this was polished and concentrated, and with great definition and precision, really channelling the core of Cesar's winemaking. It's fresh and yet with great richness and suppleness in texture, showcasing perfectly its chalky minerality, with a really firmly gripped structure. It's clearly intentional and very distinct, with the most clarity we've seen so far. It feels like a showpiece wine, the sort that's trimmed to perfection and ready to impress - and to that end it sticks the landing. It's balanced, concentrated and precise with great expressiveness. Perhaps what really brought it to the next level was this tension that could be felt in the wine that made it feel like it was delivering right on cue every step of the way. Really, really impressive!

Wine Review: Cesar Marquez Pico Ferreira

And lastly we have a second single vineyard expression, this is from the Pico Ferreira parcel that resides in the village of Corullon that sites on more shallow slate soils which results in smaller bunches of fruit. Here the over 100 year old vines are 100% Mencia, with the vineyard sitting at an altitude of 710m. The vineyard is composed of three plots which are fermented separately with its own yeast, with 25% full clusters and 45 days of maceration with the wines maturing in a combination of 500 and 600 litre oak barrels for one year.

This is the 2022 vintage.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: Immediately juicier and riper, there's blackberries, dark cherries and licorice, with a little bit of eucalyptus as well. It's richer and almost chewy. With time, rose petals emerge, with also some more rustic notes of animal hide, with an undercurrent of mineral spring water.

Taste: Medium plus bodied here, just like its aromas, it's riper and juicier here as well, with certainly more richness and saturation. Blackberries, raspberries, prunes and mulberries form the body, with a light leafiness of mulberry leaves and eucalyptus, as well as that rustic touch of animal hide. With time, it gains in its aromatics, with a perfumed quality of roses and irises pouring forth over the plush dark fruits.

Finish: Light dusting of pepper, with more of that leafy eucalyptus and mulberry leaves, wrapped around that core of blackberry, raspberry and licorice, still underscored by that spring water minerality. A salinity and meaty savouriness lingers with hints of gravel.

My Thoughts

This was certainly the ripest of the lot, striking a darker and more brooding, beefier sensibility, leaning into darker stone fruits with also more of a rustic and even somewhat leafy quality. That said it doesn't go so far as to become heavy, and still also keeps that clear signature minerality, plushness of the body, and softened tannins that we've seen across Cesar's wines. On the whole, I think the Pico Ferreira showcases a good level of complexity here and brings with it a lot of presence - it feels like the sort of wine you bring to a steak dinner, something with the sort of heft to go to toe to toe with a meatier dish, without itself getting rolled over.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot