This time I did taste the red oaked cuvée (carballo is the Gallego word for oak), the 2011 Valderroa Carballo; the grapes are sourced from head-pruned, old Mencía vineyards from the Córgomo and Portela villages, where the soils are rick in black slate. It fermented in open top barrels with malolactic and nine months upbringing in new 225-liter French barriques. Unfortunately, I found the wine overtly oaky, smoky and earthy. The palate is chewy and meaty, and the oak is less apparent in the mid-palate, but marked a comeback in the aftertaste. A cool climate red for fans of oaky wines. 2,500 bottles produced.