Akilia - Bierzo

Making some of Bierzo's most elegant wines, Mario Rovira organically tends a handful of vineyards in the San Lorenzo district of the region, just south of Ponferrada.  After his training at La Fleur Petrus and Quintessa, Mario set out to find a region with old vines, indigenous varieties, interesting soils, slopes, and a cool climate. After an extensive search, he found the San Lorenzo district of Bierzo. The San Lorenzo district of Bierzo is higher and cooler than where most small producers work. Mario crafts his wines in a highly specific and intentional way, with great thought behind each decision and a focus on minimal intervention - gentle processing, slow and cool spontaneous fermentations, and low SO2.

Akilia “Villa de San Lorenzo” Blanco 2019

75% Palomino/25% Doña Blanca from the 75-year-old Fontairo vineyard.

Winemaking: Spontaneous fermentation (full malolactic), 4-day skin contact and fermented in concrete tank, low SO2 (35 mg/L). Low dose clarification with bentonite (natural clay) and a very gentle filtration to remove sediment.

Production: 583 cases

Akilia Valdesacia Palomino 2019

75% Palomino/25% Doña Blanca from the 117-year-old Valdesacia vineyard.

Winemaking:  Hand harvested in small bins. Crushed/skin contact until fermentation starts (3-4 days). Spontaneous fermentation and aged 5 months on its fine lees in stainless tank. Low total SO2 (26 mg/L). Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Production: 544 bottles

Akilia “Villa de San Lorenzo” Mencía 2019

98% Mencía/2% Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouchet) primarily from the 75-year-old Fontairo vineyard and some from the 95-year-old Villarín vineyard.

Winemaking:  Hand harvesting in small bins. Spontaneous fermentation, 30% carbonic maceration in a separate fermenter. 18-day maceration, max temperature 74F. Aged 8 months in concrete tank (80%) and used oak (20%). Low total SO2 (26 mg/L). Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Production: 900 cases

Akilia Villarín Mencía 2021

98% Mencía/2% Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouchet) from the 96-year-old Villarín vineyard.

Winemaking: Hand harvested in small bins.  Cool spontaneous fermentation in concrete.  Aged 8 months in used French oak.  Low total SO2 (26 mg/L).  Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Production: 1,490 bottles

Akilia Clarete 2021

75% Palomino/25% Mencía from the 75-year-old, 2.5ha Fontairo vineyard.

Clarete refers to an old style of bright, fresh wine historically made in Spain, where red and white grapes are co-fermented together.  Historically the larger portion is red grapes, but this is Mario's ultra-fresh, white-grape-dominant, rendition.

Winemaking:  Hand harvested in small bins.  Carbonic maceration (co-fermented), 33-day spontaneous fermentation, 64F max temp.  Aged for 5 months in stainless tank. Low total SO2 (32 mg/L).  Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Production: 2,700 bottles

RP92 - Akilia Villa de San Lorenzo White 2019

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: January 31, 2022

I love the austerity of the Palomino 2019 Villa de San Lorenzo White, which I had already tasted last time. Time in bottle has done it some good; the wine is evolving at a slow pace. It's sharp and dry with a light to medium body, 12.5% alcohol and a mineral, stony sensation on the palate. It has very good freshness and notable acidity for what the grape normally is. The vineyards are certified organic, but the wine doesn't show any certification on the label. It was produced with old-vine Palomino and Doña Blanca from a vineyard called Fontairo on slate and quartzite soils. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in concrete after four days of skin contact, and the wine matured in concrete vats for four months. 7,000 bottles were filled in February 2020.

RP93 - Akilia Valdesacia Palomino 2019

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: June 30, 2020

The wine previously known as K has been renamed to the name of the paraje, a name that it already carried in the beginning. So, this time I tasted the 2019 Valdesacia Palomino, produced with grapes from 116-year-old vines on slate and quartzite soils at high altitude, where the old vines always have a field blend and this has some Doña Blanca. It's produced like the other white: after four days in contact with the skins, it fermented with indigenous yeasts in concrete vats, where it matured for five months. This has a deeper golden color and a sherry-like nose with yeast and spicy notes and a dry, serious, mineral and salty palate. A white for geeks. Only 540 bottles were filled in February 2020.

RP94 - Akilia Valdesacia Palomino 2020

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: January 31, 2022

The super tasty but austere white 2020 Valdesacia Palomino, the wine formerly known as K, was produced with the grapes from 0.5 hectares of north-facing, head-pruned 116-year-old vines on quartz and slate soils that showcase the minerality, rectitude and the fresher side of Bierzo. It has only 12% alcohol and a pH of 3.22 coupled with very good acidity. The wine has a stony, dry and tasty sensation on the palate akin to licking pebbles, with a light to medium body. It feels like a yogi, all muscle and bones, no fat. It has a yeasty/smoky twist from aging five months with the lees. Again, the vineyards are organic, but there's no certification on the label. Only 540 bottles were filled in February 2021.

RP91 - Akilia Villa de San Lorenzo Red 2019

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: January 31, 2022

The juicy and fruit-driven 2019 Villa de San Lorenzo Red is pure Mencía. It is naked, without excess ripeness (it's 13% alcohol), coming through as serious and mineral, with incipient floral character. This fermented in concrete, where it matured with lees for four months. 6,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2020.

RP95 - Akilia Villarín 2020

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: January 31, 2022

I love the 2020 Villarín Mencía, a pale, translucent ruby colored red with notes of wet stones, flowers, wild herbs and small red berries. It's medium-bodied, with abundant, fine-grained tannins that make it nicely textured, tasty, dry and serious, and it has moderate ripeness, 12.5% alcohol and a long, dry and clean finish. It's all bones and muscle, no fat here. It comes from a one-hectare plot of Mencía planted 96 years ago on an east-facing slope on slate and quartzite soils. It's cold and austere. It matured in used 228-liter barrels after fermenting with indigenous yeasts in concrete. Only 540 bottles were filled in February 2021.