Michelini i Mufatto

Argentine winemakers Gerardo Michelini and Andrea Mufatto, with their son Manu, transplanted their family viticultural ethos—Libertad, Fineza, Naturaleza—to Bierzo in 2015, settling in a 19th-century rock winery in Toral de Merayo after encouragement from local luminaries Raúl Pérez and César Marqués. They farm very old vines (most over 100 years) organically/biodynamically on steep to very steep clay, slate, and quartz parcels, and vinify with foot-treading, native yeasts, and short macerations, aging in clay amphorae, old foudres, and neutral oak/chestnut. The range runs from a village wine to paraje bottlings and culminates in terroir-driven, textural wines that favor tension over weight and place over polish.