Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Smoky and sleek, this is a generous mencía with notes of black cherry and green fig that wrap around schist-driven tannins. Its smoky oak and supple textures will meld with a grilled Iberian pork chop.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The fruit-driven, juicy and expressive red 2017 Unculín is pure Mencía from very old vines produced in a light and refreshing style to make it easy to drink. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and had a total maceration time of some 30 days. It matured in a combination of stainless steel tanks and oak foudres for six months. It's clean and reminiscent of a northern Rhône Syrah, with floral, earthy and smoked meat aromas. The palate is round and lush, with fine tannins, very tasty flavors and good balance and freshness. Delicious!
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.