2015 Raul Pérez Palomino Valdecanada

Bodegas y Vinedos Raul Perez is in the appellation of Rias Baixas. The estate is owned by the young winemaker and wine entrepreneur Raul Perez, who grew up in a wine-producing family in northern Spain. His family owns Bodega Castro Ventosa, the largest producer in the area, and he worked there and elsewhere before branching out on his own in 2004 and making his own wines. Though the inland regions of northwestern Spain have traditionally been considered unsophisticated when it comes to winemaking, Perez is changing opinions about the historic wines of the region by making limited-production, noteworthy reds and whites from traditional grapes. He is helping revive the classic red Bierzo, a wine made of the Mencia grape, as well as the white wines made from the Godello and Albarino grapes. Perez wines win compliments and ratings in the low- to mid-90s from reviewers.

Castilla y León, as this region is called in Spanish, is a large region in northeastern Spain that includes nearly twenty percent of Spain’s total land. It encompasses eight provinces and five appellations. The best known of the appellations is Ribera del Duero, though the appellations Toro and Bierzo are also gaining international reputations for fine wine. The region is largely a high, flat plateau and red grapes account for much of what is grown in Ribera del Duero. The other appellations are Rueda, known for white wine, and Cigales. Bierzo is known for the full flavored white wine Godello.