The 2016 Lacima is a selection from different vineyards with specific soils that give a strong character to the wine, which is more austere and mineral. It feels more austere and backward than the Lalama from the same vintage, which I tasted next to it. It's a Mencía-based blend with fruit from old vines that delivered very expressive and balanced juice, and it fermented in open-top barrels and matured in used barriques for 17 months. It has fine, sophisticated tannins and a seamless mouthfeel. The nose is floral and expressive, elegant and nuanced, with detail and complexity. This is stunning. It has to be the finest vintage of Lacima to date—a vintage of great balance and freshness, with all it takes for a long and positive development in bottle. It should make old bones. Bravo! 4,790 bottles and 47 magnums were filled in June 2018.

I found the wines from Dominio do Bibei to follow the direction I already noticed last time, in which the top bottlings show a lot less influence from the aging in oak than they used to years ago. They changed some years ago, but because they release their wines later than most in the Ribeira Sacra zone, the effect has taken longer to reach the market. The single-vineyard white currently offered is from 2014, and the reds are from 2016, a cool and rainy year that produced fresher wines. They have 30 hectares of vineyards ranging between seven and 100 years of age in the Bibei Valley, in the villages of Langullo, Soutipedre, Val de Rodrigo and Mendoia. They produce between 100,000 and 120,000 bottles per vintage.- Luis Gutierrez

95/100 Wine Advocate

Sustainable viticulture