Winemaker Notes
Aromas of apples and blackberries with hints of chestnut and black licorice lead to a structured palate with nuances of wood balanced by sweet notes and a lingering finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Even the 2022 La Vizcaína La Vitoriana shows the effect of the warm and dry year with a darker color and higher ripeness and alcohol. It has notes of dark cherries and plums. It's under 13% alcohol, but the sensation of the wine is of higher ripeness. It has a juicy and velvety palate with fine tannins.
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Wine Spectator
This appealing red shows good focus and fine structure without excessive weight. Flavors of crushed black raspberry, cassis and mountain herbs, plus lots of black pepper, anise and sandalwood accents, expand on the creamy palate, while a minerally underpinning of stone, iron and smoke drives the finish. Drink now through 2035. 834 cases made, 200 cases imported.
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.