Roc 2015

I tasted two vintages of the grand vin, because the last time I tasted in the zone, the 2015 ROC wasn't ready and the 2016 had just been released. It's always interesting to taste two consecutive vintages of the same wine, especially like on this occasion when the two years couldn't be more different. 2015 was warm, dry and ripe and 2016 was much cooler, wetter and fresh. It's produced with Mencía grapes from vines more than 80 years old on two plots, El Couso and La Rata, in the village of Valtuille but in a zone with more sand; therefore, the wines are finer, subtler and more elegant. Ortega used 50% full clusters with indigenous yeasts in an open 5,000-liter oak vat for the fermentation, and she did a very soft vinification. The wine matured in second and third use 228-liter French barrels for 14 months. There is no oak in any of her wines, and this is no exception. It has riper and darker fruit and a more voluptuous profile, very expressive and open in a Northern Rhône way. The palate is medium-bodied, combining juicy fruit with some austere earthiness. It's vinous, powerful and long with good balance, more classical. It seems developed and ready, as 2015 is an immediate vintage, and the wines were almost ready to drink halfway through their élevage. 5,989 bottles were filled in February 2017.