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Red Wine

Mencia

The best are elegant, sophisticated grape first wines.

Like all varieties, Mencia can make a diverse array of styles. Pushing up to the serious wines it offers florals of violets, vibrant red fruit with spice and herbal notes.

The best are elegant, sophisticated grape first wines. Whole bunch use adds, spice and supporting fine tannins.

Complexity from savoury, slatey, truffled often characters wrap a core of fruit that often has an elegance and restraint over fruit of considerable depth.

Whether you find tea, sour cherry, pomegranate, or plum, you’ll find it beautiful poised in the best Mencia.

As is the way in much of Spain, plantings are often interspersed with small percentages of white grapes and other native reds Caíño, Sousón, Brancellao, Merenzao, Negreda, Garnacha, Mouratón and beyond. For mine I can only expect that these add further intrigue to an already fascinating variety.

Native to Spain. You’ll find it in the North West corner in the Ribeira Sacra, Galicia and Bierzo, Castilla y León.

Filters & Sorting

The 2022 Pétalos was produced with 85% Mencía, 10% white grapes and 5% other reds from over 90 hectares, 20% owned by them and the rest from 180 families. It fermented with some full clusters in oak and stainless steel vats and matured in barrels of different sizes for 10 months. It's clearly more Mediterranean, with notes of rockrose and other aromatic herbs, juicy and round, more fruit-driven, aromatic, velvety and very pleasant and easy to drink. It has 13.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.54.L
$72
$69ea in any 3+
$66ea in any 6+
Boldest, most immediately generous of this set of 2022's. Red and blue fruited. Carries through to the palate. Building in the glass. Friendly, so easy to drink. Deceptively, less cerebral than the Pico. Great transparency. Seamless and plenty of fun.Paul Kaan, Wine DecocdedI love the elegant, floral and nuanced nose of the 2022 El Rapolao, sourced from a plot in the coldest part of the village, where the soils are rich in iron and organic matter. It fermented with 25% full clusters
$85
$81ea in any 3+
$77ea in any 6+
Super expressive, elegant & complex. Nose is complete and intoxicating out of the gate (tasted form a bottle under Coravin for a month). Great drinking flow shape and expression. The tannin and flavour from the stalk work adds interest. Delicacy with refinement. Savoury with licorice and spice playing with  woody herbs, baking spice. Edge of grip that intrigues. Perfumed.  Vibrant with a wonderful core of fruit. Earthy, forest floor & truffles at play. A lot to love here. Paul Kaa
$85
$81ea in any 3+
$77ea in any 6+
Guímaro’s wines draw you in. At this level, they move well beyond and above the playful, juby, joven styles. Complex, savoury, layered with sophisticated tannins all of Guímaro's top wines show a deft hand in élévage to elicit the personality of the fruit from which they are made.There's a build in weight and richness here over the Miño river sibling to this wine.The San Pedro has a beautiful acid balance. Savoury salami, spiced, energy and freshness, super complex. Harmonise
$102
$97ea in any 3+
$92ea in any 6+
At 400-450 metres' altitude, Meixeman is a 1.2 hectare plot of very old organically grown vines from a 'two-faced' vineyard: the larger part is relatively coolly oriented slate facing south-east; the other is warmer iron-rich granitic soil facing south-west. This 'heritage vineyard' was replanted after phylloxera in 1907 by Pedro's grandmother, using remnants of the site's own genetics which survived the pestilence. The grapes are foot-trodden, 40% whole bunch, 16 days maceration on skins and st
$125
$120ea in any 3+
$115ea in any 6+
Guímaro’s wines draw you in. At this level, they move well beyond and above the playful, juby, joven styles. Complex, savoury, layered with sophisticated tannins all of Guímaro's top wines show a deft hand in élévage to elicit the personality of the fruit from which they are made.I had the chance to compare the 2020 Finca Pombeiras with the 2019, just like I did with the other three single-vineyard bottlings. This is from a plot planted with the classical field blend found in the
$211
$201ea in any 3+
$191ea in any 6+
Guímaro’s wines draw you in. At this level, they move well beyond and above the playful, juby, joven styles. Complex, savoury, layered with sophisticated tannins all of Guímaro's top wines show a deft hand in élévage to elicit the personality of the fruit from which they are made.The 2020 Finca Capeliños comes from a warm year, but the grapes have been harvested earlier in recent years to achieve moderate alcohol and macerations have been shortened to get wines that are more eleg
$211
$201ea in any 3+
$191ea in any 6+
Guímaro’s wines draw you in. At this level, they move well beyond and above the playful, juby, joven styles. Complex, savoury, layered with sophisticated tannins all of Guímaro's top wines show a deft hand in élévage to elicit the personality of the fruit from which they are made.The 2021 Finca Pombeiras felt more exuberant than the 2021 Finca Capeliños. It fermented in open-top barrels with 100% full clusters and then matured in used 500-liter oak barrels for the élevage of one
$211
$201ea in any 3+
$191ea in any 6+
Guímaro’s wines draw you in. At this level, they move well beyond and above the playful, juby, joven styles. Complex, savoury, layered with sophisticated tannins all of Guímaro's top wines show a deft hand in élévage to elicit the personality of the fruit from which they are made.The elegant, floral and subtle 2021 Finca Capeliños comes from a southwest-facing centenary vineyard at 350 to 400 meters in altitude on granite and schist soils planted with some 70% Mencía and the res
$211
$201ea in any 3+
$191ea in any 6+