Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 La Vizcaína La Poulosa was open, aromatic and expressive, hitting on all cylinders. Even if this is one of the warmest vineyards, it doesn't have the exuberant character I found in other vintages, like the cooler year compensated the natural tendency of the vineyard. Some 6,300 bottles were filled in March 2017.
-
Wine Spectator
A plush texture carries ripe plum, cola and spicy flavors in this generous red. Juicy acidity keeps this lively, offering just enough tannins for grip. In the modern style, fresh and focused. Drink now through 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.