{"title":"Castro Ventosa","description":"\u003cp\u003eHow did Bierzo, a green little corner of one of Spain's cooler, coastal provinces, explode into one of the hottest regions in the wine world?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt started with an ordinary meeting of three talented winemakers at Castro Ventosa, one of Bierzo's tipico 18th century bodegas. In 1999 Alvaro Palacios was about as famous as a winemaker could be. He had reinvented Priorat as a culty vin de garde. And now he (with his nephew, Ricardo) was interested in Bierzo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt Castro Ventosa they found a young, native winemaker who was equally passionate, as well as a facility in which to make their first Bierzos under the name Descendientes de J. Palacios. And the rest is history: Alvaro and Ricardo became Bierzo's first international stars and inspired Raul to go out on his own and totally reinvent northwestern Spain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, Castro Ventosa isn't just the birthplace of modern Bierzo, like some Yalta of the vine. It's also the single largest landholder of Mencia in Bierzo and, under Raul's careful guidance, one of its greatest grower-producers, doing the hard work in the vineyards, lowering yields, and helping the wine to find its voice. Together with the Palacios wines, Raul's have proven that northwestern Spain is a region of incredible terroir, with fascinating soil variation and delicious-making micro-climates. And they've shown that Mencia is a truly great grape, perfectly suited to convey those terroirs in the way that Pinot speaks Burgundy.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"url":"https:\/\/sf.flatiron-wines.com\/collections\/castro-ventosa.oembed","provider":"Flatiron SF","version":"1.0","type":"link"}