Winemaker Notes
Blend: 70% Mencía, 30% Merenzao
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I was very pleasantly surprised by the expressive nose of the 2016 Gaba do Xil Mencía; it was very open, floral and perfumed, refined and elegant, expressing the freshness of the 2016 vintage. It has that spicy and herbal twist not that far from some Gamays or Cabernet Francs, with the Galician signature of forest floor, bay leaf and nettle, and with very good complexity. This is quite refined, tasty and long. 33,876 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2018 completely unoaked. This might be the finest vintage to date of this bottling.
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.
Just to the south of Bierzo, the steeply terraced Valdeorras Spanish wine region is a respected source of both red and white wines. Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) and Mencía are the principal red varieties while Godello and Palomino compose the majority of this region's whites.