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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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of cassis, purple fig and soft baking spice leads the way for Luxardo cherry, blackberry-pie, dried thyme, grated ginger and bittersweet-chocolate flavors. Tannins come on strong and them drift off into a finish marked with a whiff of smoke.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
There's one degree more of refinement and freshness in the 2020 Unculín, the entry-level red here. At the same time, it feels a bit wilder and more characterful. The wines from José Antonio García have improved tremendously, and this old-vine cuvée shows it. This is velvety and balanced, fresh and tasty. It's medium-bodied and has medium ripeness with 13.2% alcohol and good freshness.
Rating: 91+
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.