Veronica Ortega
A Spanish native from the south, Veronica Ortega first worked in Priorat for Daphne Glorian (Clos Erasmus) and Alvaro Palacios. After spending some time in New Zealand at Burnt Cottage (incidently she has never tasted this wine!), she went to Burgundy with the intention of learning about viticulture, working several years with Benjamin Leroux in Comte Armand and at Domaine de Romanee Conti. Veronica then ventured to the Northern Rhone where she spent 2 years as winemaker at Domaine Combier. Finally Veronica returned to Spain in 2010 to work with local legend Raúl Peréz to and there after undertake her own project. Ricardo Perez of Descendientes de J Palacios was actually the person responsible for finally convincing Veronica that Bierzo was the place to be in Spain. He was originally offered the ROC vineyard however due to the fact that it was outside of the Corullón village and in Valtuille de Abarjo he decided to contact Veronica to let her know that it was available. She visited and saw that Bierzo with all of its small plots and different aspects reminded her very much of Burgundy and was completely taken by the region. In the near future Veronica will also have a couple of whites made from Godello which also impressed us. These are from San Juan de la Mata where the soil is particularly chalky which is perfectly suited to white wines.
2013 ROC
Two plots of 80+ year old vines are the source for the fruit for ROC. Super fine and loaded with minerality again and the potential to age gracefully for many years. We tasted the 11 vintage on our recent visit and it was mighty impressive. Veronica feels the 13 will mature in the same way. This is Bierzo for those who appreciate the class and elegance. This wine doesn’t see any new oak and is only matured in old wood (fourth and fifth use).
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