Pittacum from Bierzo

PITTACUM

OUT OF THE PAST

Arganza is a small, sleepy Leonese village of perhaps 300 souls, founded a couple of hundred years before the Romans arrived to embark on an epic gold-mining programme in nearby Las Médulas: the largest open-pit mine in their entire empire (and today a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

WORDS JOHN CARLOS READ PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF PITTACUM

Viticulture was already the primary local mainstay, so the ever-thirsty invaders were delighted to continue with the tradition. Official recognition of the region and its very distinctive Mencía grape variety would, however, take quite a few centuries more, with D.O. Status for the region – Bierzo – bestowed as recently as 1989.

Pittacum was established a decade later, around 1998, by three friends from nearby Ponferrada who thought it would be fun to promote the glories of this wonderful, quirky, scenic, and slightly remote part of Spain, roping in local winemaker Alfredo Marqués as the key fourth element.

THE WINERY

Ensconced in and around a spacious and picturesque 300-year-old seigniorial stone manor surrounded by beautiful gardens and vineyards, this picturesque building houses a thoroughly modern winery, with its dark, fresh, and humid underground vaults serving as ideal ageing cellars.

It is named after a conical shaped Roman amphora unearthed during excavation work.

The winery produces some 400,000 bottles made from the hand-picked fruit of 250 individual plots/parcels from 10 owned hectares and a further 63 under contract from specific local growers. The Technical Director, Alfredo, is assisted by winemaker Elisa Gómez.

In 2002/3 majority ownership passed to Terras Gauda and the project has flourished. Currently just five or six wines are made, with Petit Pitaccum accounting for some 50 per cent of total production, with 40 per cent of its sales made in export markets – primarily China, Canada, the UK and Austria.

THE BIERZO D.O.

The Bierzo D.O. boasts some 79 wineries spread over 32 municipalities.

Bordering Galicia to the west and Asturias to the north, its most interesting vineyards consist of small, terraced parcels on the slopes of sandy clay which are mineral rich. Here, mountainous terrain rises from 350 metres up to almost 1000 metres, overlooking a vast, fertile, verdant plain.

Mencía is king and, thanks to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean (with relatively cool temperatures during the growing season) and the shelter of the Sierra de los Ancares, the area’s modern wines are bright, lively, and refreshing – in radical contrast to the generally sturdier offerings of, say, Toro or Ribera del Duero in more inland Castiila y León.

A SELECTION

Z PETIT PITTACUM 2020 (14.5%) » Pure Mencía » DO Bierzo » Dark ruby tinged damson with sprightly, tingly, upbeat, fresh red and black plum fruits and excellent slightly sappy supporting tannins. Long. » Brilliantly simple.

Z PITTACUM AUREA 2017 (14.5%) » Old vine Mencía » DO Bierzo » From the centenary Finca Areixola and with 14 months in barrica (40 per cent American and 60 French with around 33 per cent replaced annually). » Dense, mature ruby tinged purple; imbued with the scent of aromatic French oak; tingly, spicy and inky with condensed ripe blueberry and blackberry fruit and an alluring custardy oak twang. » A truly satisfying traditional style. Z LA PROHIBICIÓN 2017 (14.5%) » Old vine Garnacha Tintorera » Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León » Super dense dark, ruby flecked plum; minerally aroma with a twist of toffee and caramel; lightly textured with a most attractive, understated, succulent leafy black fruit core but a nice snappy edge and long, substantial finish with pervasive tannins and a fresh vinous tang.

Z LA PROHIBICIÓN DULCE

NATURAL 2011 (15.5%)

» 10,000 bottles made » Old vine Garnacha Tintorera » Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León » Made just once and still not on the market! » One of the most remarkable dessert wines ever. » Made from grapes left on the vines until November 10 (unheard of!), given the dry Autumn. With no destemming, the entire bunches were plonked whole and unpressed into a couple of steel tanks where, after a month of inaction, they finally fermented so vigorously that the process could simply not be stopped. » The final wine – still with 100 grammes/litre of natural sugar – spent four years in old oak and six in a bottle. » Blood red hue going into black; a strikingly sultry condensed series of melded ripe red fruits – cherry, plum and strawberry – vie with each other in a tannic, toasty velvet glove, delivering the most extraordinary tannic punch. e