" As I have mentioned in the past, Germán Blanco’s Casa Aurora is situated just outside of the official limits of Bierzo, but as it is the same terroir, the same old vine field blends and made the similarly to the best wines of Bierzo, I am loathe to let a couple of hundred meters force me to list the wine as something it is not. His Clos Pepín Tinto is made from a traditional field blend of old vines, farmed organically, with Mencía, Merenzao and Garnacha Tintorera the predominant grapes in the co-planted varieties. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts and raised in a variety of neutral vessels. The 2022 version comes in at an even thirteen percent octane and offers up a superb bouquet of dark berries, cassis, a touch of tree bark, sweet botanicals, dark soil tones and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, precise and full-bodied, with a superb core of fruit, great soil signature and grip, ripe, buried tannins and a very long, seamlessly balanced and complex finish. Once this is ready to drink, it is going to be outstanding. 2033-2075."