Winemaker Notes
Whole cluster fermentation in large oak vats. 60-90 day maceration followed by one year of aging in used 225 and 500-liter barrels. Bottled without fining or filtration.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
My favorite red of the 2014 vintage was the 2014 La Vizcaína La Vitoriana, which was very expressive, floral and elegant, with filigree and detail. There is a lot of depth in the palate, greatly balanced with very fine tannins and a long, tasty finish. This is the oldest vineyard they have, and Raúl Pérez told me the vineyard is not an easy one: very good in some years, not so good in others. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April, the latest bottling, as it needs a long aging after a three-month maceration.
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.