Olga Verde Viñadora - Bierzo

Olga Verde Viñadora is the small, personal project of Olga Verde started in 2020. Her project is based in Otero, very close to the famous Villa de Corullón, in the Bierzo region. Olga began her career in 2007, combining harvests in the northern and southern hemispheres (Madrid, Chile, New Zealand) and also worked as a sommelier to expand her knowledge of world wines. She organically cultivates less than 1 hectare of very old vineyards on the north faces of Otero and Corullón. Olga’s approach is minimalist and seeks to express the essence of mountain vineyards maintained for decades by hundreds of anonymous vine growers.

Olga Verde Toxo Villa de Otero 2023

95% Mencía/5% Palomino Fino y Doña Blanca from 7 small plots of 100+ year-old vines registered in 1910.

Winemaking:  Hand harvested.  Spontaneous fermentation with 30% whole cluster and 70% destemmed grapes.  Aged for 11 months in neutral French oak. Low total SO2 (46 mg/L).

Production:  1,347 bottles (168 bottles imported)

Olga Verde Toxo Villa de San Clemente 2023

92% Mencía/8% Merenzao (Trousseau) from San Clemente, a hamlet located in Cacabelos, where friends Carmen and Manolo take care of this vineyard of more than 80 years old.

Winemaking:  Hand harvested.  Spontaneous fermentation with 30% whole cluster and 70% destemmed grapes.  Aged for 8 months in neutral French oak. Low total SO2 (58 mg/L).

Production:  1,060 bottles (168 bottles imported)

Olga Verde Fontecalada 2023

100% Mencía from the century-old vineyard plot of 0.10 hectares in the paraje of Fontecalada “a fountain in calcareous soil” located in Corullón.

Winemaking:  Hand harvested.  Spontaneous fermentation with 100% whole cluster.  Aged for 11 months in neutral French oak and glass demijohns. Low total SO2 (42 mg/L).

Production:  342 bottles (84 bottles imported)

RP93 - Olga Verde Viñadora Toxo Villa de Otero 2022

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: July 10, 2025

The 2022 Toxo Villa de Otero was harvested early in the warm year (they started the 16th of August!), despite being a north-facing vineyard. They ferment in plastic bins with part of full clusters, usually 30%, but it depends on the ripeness of the stems. The wine matured in used 225-liter barrels for 10 months. It has a Mediterranean profile with some earthiness, slightly dusty on the nose but with a more fine-boned, fluid mouthfeel. It's juicy and the tannins are finer than the average 2022, perhaps because of the complex soils from Otero, a transition between the clay and the slate. It comes in at 13.5% alcohol with a balanced mouthfeel but earthier. A total of 862 bottles were produced in a very low yielding year. It was bottled in January 2024.  Drink 2025 - 2030

RP94 - Olga Verde Viñadora Toxo Villa de San Clemente 2022

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: July 10, 2025

The 2022 Toxo Villa de San Clemente has an explosive nose of thyme, rosemary and other aromatic herbs, and it's a little floral too. The secret seems to be the high percentage of Merenzao. It has complexity and elegance, and surprisingly enough, it has lower alcohol than the other 2022s, 13%, despite the southeast exposure and the clay and stony soils. It has a finer-boned palate and is a little lighter. It seems to transcend the conditions of the year and comes through as fresher. This is very different from the wine from Otero; it's more ethereal. Bravo! 782 bottles were filled in January 2024.  Drink 2025 - 2031

RP93+ - Olga Verde Viñadora Fonte Calada 2022

Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

Issue Date: July 10, 2025

The rarity of the 2022 Fonte Calada is that it's only Mencía, not a field blend, despite being from a vineyard registered as 1910. It's a very isolated vineyard surrounded by trees, with slightly whiter soil. It always ferments with 100% full clusters, because it's a very small plot that delivers very small bunches and berries, and it produces a more direct and chalky wine, more powerful. It's officially from Corullón, but it's really Otero. They only produced one 225-liter barrel (and some glass demijohns) that filled 322 bottles in January 2024.  Drink 2025 - 2031

by Beth Willard 94:  Olga Verde Toxo, Otero 2021

Olga Verde produces this field blend (Mencía with 6% Jerez and Doña Blanca) from vines with a minimum 80 years’ age on clay and slate soils in Otero. The vineyard is north-facing which goes someway to explain the wine’s inherent freshness and lift, and coupled with the slatey energy makes for immediate appeal. There’s a certain Atlantic profile to this wine with cherry and redcurrant fruit, alongside wild herbs and pretty floral aromas. It is a lighter Bierzo red but lacks nothing in complexity and concentration of fruit.  Drink 2024 - 2027

by Beth Willard 93:  Olga Verde Toxo, San Clemente 2021

This wine is from a single parcel of 80 year old Mencía (94%) and Merenzao (6%) in San Clemente, north of Cacabelos. It is light in colour with attractive orange, rose and tomato aromas and a bloody, ferrous backbone. 30% whole bunch is used in fermentation which brings just the right amount of green freshness. With precise acidity and purity of fruit, the wine has a morish, sour cherry finish.  Drink 2024 - 2026