Diego Magana Dominio de Anza Bierzo Tinto Seleccion de Parcelas 2020

Diego Magaña has become a revered Rioja producer, but when the chance arose to work with ancient vines in Bierzo, from the same revered vineyard as his good friend and local superstar, Raúl Pérez, he leaped at the opportunity. This incredible 94 POINT red is the result – a structured and enduring Bierzo that has incited comparisons to Spain’s version of fine Barolo. Our incredible price of well under $30 drops lower still when you get 6 or more – to a price so incredible we can’t legally print it here!

Diego is the son of Juan Magaña, who runs the family’s Viña Magaña winery in Navarra. Over the last several decades, this winery has become an icon of the region, and Diego started working alongside his father there as a boy, some twenty years ago. It was in 2014 that he first gained access to Raúl’s vineyard in the Bierzo for his own project, followed shortly thereafter by his acquisition of some old-vine plots in the revered Rioja Alavesa. He grew plot by plot to a base of 4.5 hectares, mostly old vines, in some of the top villages in La Rioja Alavesa. Over the last decade, his reputation as one of Spain’s top young vigneron has been forged – and with his continued growth in Rioja, alongside his remarkable expressions of Raúl Pérez’s vineyards in Bierzo – this is a top winemaker to keep an eye on.

For this structured, concentrated, and silkily expressive Bierzo wine, Diego uses a blend of mostly mencía, with smaller bits of bastardo (trousseau) and garnacha tintorera blended in to add layers of complexity and variation throughout. The fruit is hand-harvested, sourced from some seriously old parcels – with vine ages ranging from 80 to 100 years old – from Bierzo’s most iconic expositions such as Los Rosales, El Val, and the incredible El Rapolao. While Diego’s winemaking style is simple, and holds to the ethos that “the only recipe is that there is no recipe”...certain patterns emerge across his portfolio. He prefers native yeast fermentation, vinifying parcel by parcel in open-top tanks, and when the vintage allows – he is quite keen to add a percentage of whole cluster grapes to the mix. He ages exclusively in used oak – mostly 225L and 500L vessels (and one 4,000L “tina”), and usually for about a year before he does his final blend and bottling.

The wine is simply classic Bierzo – one of my favorite regions – with high-toned aromatics, a bright and zippy fruit core, and a lean and mean mineral edge. The comparison to Barolo is apt – as these seemingly pretty, often light and mid-weight wines nevertheless pack a serious punch – an incredible concentration of tannins, and acidity combining to make wines that I would argue are the best aging reds in all of Spain. That is a huge claim, I’m aware, but I’m making it just the same. Aromas of violets, and hibiscus, with pomegranate, cherries, and roses saturate the senses immediately, followed closely by the torrefaction and reductive character of roast coffee beans (another classic Bierzo marker). In the mouth, sour cherries, blackberries, raspberries, and mulberries lead the considerable fruit, with earthy and grounding notes of tobacco, mace, and white sage interspersed. A vein of slate-y, crushed gravel minerality carries throughout, giving structure and a linear focus to this young Bierzo. There’s some serious potential for aging here, but even in its youth, this wine has a lot to offer!

PAIRING IDEAS: I paired this with a hearty, spiced but not spicy, and deeply flavorful Moroccan Chicken. Traditionally, this would be cooked in a tagine, or clay pot with a sloped, conical lid, but a heavy dutch-oven or ceramic braiser works perfectly well too.