Bodegas y Vinedos Merayo, Godello, DO Bierzo, Spain, 2023

Producer Profile

There is rather lovely balance of old and young at Merayo.

80 year old Mencia bush vines give their fruit to the young, dynamic winemaker Juan Merayo who then crafts wonderful wines full of fresh, perfumed characters and ripe red fruit evocative of Mencia. Everything is handpicked with the appropriate reverence for these octogenarian vines before the grapes receive careful temperature controlled ferments and sensitive use of French and American oak to ensure Juan creates the expressive wines he is looking for.

Viticulture

The key to the Merayo wines are the ancient bush vines, planted on clay soils with pebbles on the surface, at an average altitude of 600 metres. Poor in organic material.

Winemaking

Gentle fruit handling in both the vineyard and winery. A cold maceration for 24 hours before a fermentation in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature (15-17 ° C). Aged “sur lie” for four months.

Oak Ageing

No oak ageing

Tasting Note

Pale, clear, bright yellow in colour with an intense nose of green apple and stone fruit and traces of citrus and fennel. Mineral sensations envelop the wine and lend it great complexity. The palate is rounded and bulky, without ever losing the sensation of freshness. Sensations of citrus, green apple, and minerality. The lees ageing influence appears in the mouth, enveloping the wine and giving it a greasy, slightly sweet feeling of overall harmony.

Food Matching

You cannot go wrong matching this with fish.