Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I also tasted two vintages of their village red, but in this case it was already 2022 and 2021. 2022 was also a warm year, extremely dry, with a very torrid summer, but they managed to keep the alcohol level of the 2022 En el Camino to the same 12.5% as the 2021 I tasted next to it. Furthermore, there might have been some blocking in the plants, as the alcohol didn't go up and the acidity was kept. It's very primary and innocent. It's 90% Mencía with 10% other grapes like Palomino, Doña Blanca and Alicante Bouschet, fermented with 30% full clusters and a short maceration. Fifty percent of the wine matured in oak casks and the other 50% in stainless steel for a period of a little less than one year.
Rating: 92+ -
Vinous
The 2022 En El Camino is 100% Mencía from Bierzo. The 2022 opens with pomegranate, cherry and delicate reduction, plus a touch of underbrush. Clean and fruit-focused, the 2022 offers tea-like nuances, fine-grained tannins and a broad yet delicate palate.
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.