Winemaker Notes
A perfumed, floral nose opens up to a medium-bodied red showcasing juicy red cherry and plum fruits. The finish is fresh, persistent, and satisfying.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The red 2019 Unculín wants to be light and fresh through adding some 10% white grapes and 5% Alicante Bouschet to the Mencía, all from old vines, with 13.3% alcohol and good acidity. It fermented with 10% to 20% full clusters and the rest uncrushed grapes in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in stainless steel and oak foudres for six months. It's aromatic, floral, elegant, clean and fruit-driven, with a medium-bodied palate and round tannins. It's a great introduction to the reds form Bierzo. It was bottled in April 2020. Best After 2022
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.