Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Usually my favourite from the Vizcaína portfolio, the 2013 La Vizcaína El Rapolao has a strong herbal strike, akin to tea leaves, a little minty - reminiscent of a Cabernet Franc from Loire. The palate shows austerity, sharp acidity and fine-grained tannins. This is a vineyard that ripens quite late, with deep soils and surrounded by forests that slow down the ripening of the grapes. This is quite wild.
Rating: 93+ -
Wine Spectator
Floral and animal notes mingle in a marriage of opposites in this alluring red, framing a deep core of cherry, plum and mineral flavors. Fresh acidity and well-integrated tannins provide ample structure, keeping this bright and focused. Drink now through 2025.
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.