The 2016 Tilenus Roble has obvious notes of oak (roble means "oak" in Spanish) and has some dusty tannins. It has a commercial profile that might please many, but to me the oak is pretty dominant. 66,000 bottles. It was bottled in December 2018.

With notes of orange peel, spices and wild berries, the 2015 Tilenus Roble represents a small step up from the unoaked Mencía. Cropped from a warm year that produced healthy grapes, it has a palate with grip provided by some fine tannins that make it ideal with food. 66,000 bottles produced.

The 2013 Tilenus Roble has at least 12 months in oak (roble means oak). It does have a lot of oak, full of spices and smoke, a pinch of sawdust. The palate is also loaded with tannins and plenty of flavors from the wood. For fans of oaky wines, or perhaps in a few years, as the base seems to be good. 90,000 bottles produced.

You could feel the heat of the vintage in the 2011 Tilenus Roble, an old-vine Mencía cuvée form vines on clay soils which fermented in stainless steel vats and aged in oak barrels for 10 months. 2012 was a dry, warm vintage, and the wine show some over-ripe notes of dates, prunes and baked apples. The palate is medium-bodied, with some grainy tannins. Not my style. 90,000 bottles were produced.

The 2010 Envejecido en Roble is aged in both French and American barrels for 8-10 months and spends one year in bottle before being sold. Sometimes these shorter times in barrel result in a less-than-perfect integration of wine and wood, and I must confess I am a little bit biased against this category of wines. Fortunately it is not the case here and the violet notes are perfectly integrated with the cinnamon and vanilla tones from the barrique. The palate is compact, light to medium-bodied, with great length and a spicy, velvety finish. This again represents good value for the category. Drink 2014-2019. The official name of Tilenus is Bodegas Estefania, but everybody knows them by their brand name. The winery is owned by the Frias family, a name traditionally linked with the dairy business, and they were smart enough to hire Raul Perez as technical director for the winery. They own 40 hectares of vineyards, mostly around the villages of Pieros and Valtuille at around 800 meters altitude. The average age of their vineyards is very old, with some plots exceeding 100 years of age. They are one of the few producers in Bierzo offering more mature vintages; as you can see in this report they are still selling wines from 2004, 2005 and 2006. Imported by Classic Wines, Stamford, CT; tel. (203) 975-2522