There is a sensation of ripeness from a warm year and notes of dry hay, nuts and tree bark in the 2020 Tebaida that gives it a slightly rustic profile. It's Mencía with 14% alcohol and generous spice after the wine matured in new and second use 225-liter French oak barrels for 14 months. 2,000 bottles were filled in June 2022.

Now a Vino de Paraje Pi?eiro, 2019 Tebaida fermented in 225- and 500-liter oak barrels with whole destemmed grapes, which might account for the perfumed (semi-carbonic?) nose, and matured in new and second use 225-liter oak barrels for 16months. I still find too much oak in the wines, but less than before, which coupled with ripe Mencía (most wines are around 14.5% alcohol) gives them a slightly international/mainstream character. They could be much better with more-judicious ripeness and oak. Still, this is an improvement over previous vintages, but it remains for fans of the style. 6,000 bottles were filled in September 2021.

The 2015 Tebaida felt quite advanced and ripe, with fruit verging on over-ripeness, hinting on bruised apples. The palate showed naked tannins and the fruit felt dried out. 6,588 bottles.

The 2011 Tebaida, as all the wines with Tebaida in the name, is produced with Mencía grapes from the hilltops of Valtuille de Arriba, where the soil is rich in quartz and slate and provide for straight, austere wines. It fermented in 5,00-liter oak vats and matured in French oak barrels of different sizes (225, 400, 600 and 700 liters). Here the ripeness is quite extreme, verging on overripeness, and the wine shows aromas of cooked fruit and something earthy/organic reminiscent of wet forest floor. The palate shows volume and roundness, in a style that is probably very successful. It ends quite dry. 7,092 bottles produced.

The 2010 Tebaida Mencia from a selection of two vineyards, San Salvador and Valdaiga, is fermented in 5,000-liter oak vats, and displays a nice cherry color, with plenty of cedar and cigar box notes, a touch of smoke over some blackberries and dark cherries. The palate is very balanced, being a concentrated and powerful wine, with tasty minerality giving it almost a salty feeling, good length and persistence. 10,000 bottles produced. Drink 2015-2020. Bodegas Casar de Burbia were founded at the end of the 80s by Nemesio Fernandez and today his son Isidro Fernandez is in charge of their 27 hectares of vineyards in the village of Valtuille de Arriba, identifying and separating plots that show specific character into three groups which will make the three lines of wines: Tebaida from rocky, higher-up vineyards; Hombros from mid-slopes rich in clay and some stones, and the Casar de Burbia plots where they source their entry-level clean, fruity wines. Isidro has a reputation for paying much attention to all details, and I felt this shows in the wines, which have surprised me. No need to say that they only use grapes from their own vineyards to produce their wines. All reds, save the Tebaida Nemesio displayed a Bordeaux personality that surprised me a little. Imported by South River Imports, Edgewater, MD; tel. (240) 401-9342