The 2021 Valtuille La Cova de la Raposa comes from the lieu-dit that names the wine, where the soils are rich in sand, and which they have been vinifying separately since 2003. This south-facing vineyard is the first they harvest, as the orientation and the fact that the old vines only produce two to three clusters per vine make them ripen early. They used 40% full clusters for the native fermentation with 40 days of maceration. It matured in two 500-liter oak barrels for 12 months. It has moderate alcohol (12.43%) and ripeness with nice balance, a sleek mouthfeel and very fine tannins. This is a warm place that behaved quite well in the cooler 2021 vintage. The sandy soils are a little more compact, and this is tighter than the more-open 2020. 1,200 bottles were filled in March 2023.

The perfumed 2020 Valtuille La Cova de la Raposa has a bright ruby color and an extroverted profile; it's juicy, round, very tasty, harmonious and balanced, with good ripeness, moderate alcohol (13.3%) and very fine tannins. It fermented with 40% full clusters and indigenous yeasts with 40 days of maceration and matured in two 500-liter oak barrels for 12 months. 1,100 bottles were filled in December 2021.

The south-facing and sunny 2019 Valtuille La Cova de la Raposa is always the first plot to be harvested, and the wine has a juicier and riper personality. This has more concentration and more tannin and is not as expressive on the nose as the 2018; it feels a bit more serious and backward and should repay some extra time in bottle. 1,100 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2021, after one year in two 500-liter oak barrels.

2016 was a year of mildew, and 2017 suffered frost. So, most of the single-vineyard bottlings jump from 2015 to 2018. Such is the case with the 2018 Valtuille La Cova de la Raposa, even though this is one of their warmest and ripest vineyards, a pure south-facing plot that was picked early this year (despite always being the first to be harvested). Perhaps the other big change is that, starting with the 2018 vintage, this matured exclusively in 500-liter oak barrels (it was mostly 225-liter barriques in the past). The extra freshness of the vintage, the earlier harvest and the larger barrels delivered a fresher and lighter wine with lower alcohol, despite being the most exuberant wine, with raspberries rather than violets. This is medium-bodied on the palate and refined, with integrated oak and no heat, and it feels brighter, with more light and more fluid. This could very well be the most elegant La Cova de la Raposa produced to date. 1,300 bottles were filled in May 2020.

There was a volatile whiff in the 2015 Valtuille La Cova de la Raposa that somehow lifted it up. This is a south-facing plot, not that common in Valtuille, with compacted sandy soils where ripeness can be high and tends to be the first plot to be harvested. So the challenge here is to keep the freshness. It has a profile that reminded me of a powerful red from the Douro in Portugal. There are some dusty tannins that might require some time in bottle and/or powerful food. Some 900 bottles.