Winemaker Notes
Perfect expression of the El Bierzo Mencía. This is a wine with a high fruit concentration, where we find a great richness of nuances, red fruit, violets and mineral notes, which blend with the nuances provided by the ageing in oak. In the mouth it is fresh, fleshy, and elegant with a great finish.
Enjoy it with grilled red meat and old home-style stews.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Plenty of redcurrant and white-pepper character follows through to a medium body with firm, silky tannins and a fruity finish. A little dry at the end.
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Wine Enthusiast
This attractive Mencía from a terrific vintage opens with wiry black-fruit aromas offset by grainy oak. A linear palate feel is focused and balanced, with better than average depth. Dark plum, blackberry and mild oak flavors are integrated and finish smooth, with length and complexity.
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Wine Spectator
A fresh, medium-bodied red, with light, well-knit tannins framing flavors of plummy fruit, leafy herbs, licorice and a touch of espresso. Spiced finish.
Primarily found in the Bierzo, Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras regions of Spain and in the Dão of Portugal (where it is called Jaen), Mencia is an early ripening, low acid grape that can produce wines of great concentration, complexity and ageability. And yet Mencia once suffered from a poor reputation and deemed capable of producing simple and light red wines. Post-phylloxera growers would grow this variety on low, fertile plains, which produced high yields and uncomplicated finished wines. Somm Secret—The recent rediscovery of the ancient, abandoned vines planted on rugged hillsides of deep schist has unveiled the potential of Mencia and added discredit to its old reputation.
One of the few northwestern Spanish regions with a focus on a red variety, Bierzo, part of Castilla y León, is home to the flowery and fruity Mencia grape. Mencia produces balanced and bright red wines full of strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate, baking spice, pepper and black licorice. The well-drained soils of Bierzo are slate and granite.