The young 2022 El Castro de Valtuille Mencía Joven is a regional red from over 300 plots of old vines that fermented destemmed in stainless steel and matured in oak foudres for three months. It's juicy, fruit-driven, very primary and approachable—the character of the year—with notes of berries and herbs, spicy and tasty, with an austere palate. 2022 was a very dry and warm year when they had to harvest very quickly and the alcohol levels are moderate. It rained some 30 liters just before the harvest, which saved the harvest and made the wines a lot less warm than expected. Yields were good, nearly as good as 2021. Some 125,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2023.

The just-bottled 2021 El Castro de Valtuille Mencía Joven feels a bit reductive but with lots of freshness and balance, possibly the finest vintage of this wine. Since 2020, they have been doing less pumping over (this is the only wine worked with pumps and the only one with temperature control), and this is made all from destemmed grapes fermented in stainless steel. This is one of the wines that transcends its price category, and it's serious and balanced. It has very fine, elegant tannins. They harvested early, and the wine is complete, with great finesse and elegance, great balance and 13.3% alcohol. 2021 was a very rainy harvest, very long and not easy. Fine and elegant, much more serious than the 2020. 100,000 bottles produced.

The 2020 El Castro de Valtuille Mencía Joven fermented in stainless steel and matured for one to three months in used 5,000-liter oak vats—all the parajes separately—and then was blended into one wine. It's varietal and fresh, showcasing the juicy character of the clay soils from Valtuille. It's more fruit-driven, more grapey. 100,000 bottles produced. This is 85% to 90% of the volume of the winery.

The just-bottled 2019 El Castro de Valtuille Mencía Joven is perfectly relaxed, aromatic and open, a preview of what the 2019s are going to be like, a very good vintage, without reaching the heights of 2018, which has been one of the finest vintages in the recent history of Bierzo. It has perhaps a little more tannin than 2018 and is a little more rustic. There will be some 100,000 bottles of this, as they do 15,000-bottle lots, and I tasted a bottle from the first lot bottled in May 2020.

The 2018 El Castro de Valtuille Mencía Joven was produced from seven or eight parajes from the village of Valtuille, a selection from the family vineyards that is given a few months in the 5,000-liter oak vats that help polish it, and the resulting wine is more relaxed. This is a Mencía that overdelivers for its price, especially in a year like 2018. It's medium-bodied, nuanced, floral and more sublte than the unoaked Castro Ventosa (pink label), with fine tannins and a serious finish. This is a bargain, an old-vine cuvée at an incredible price. 100,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2019.