Spanish Wine Review – The Mencia Grape

Published on November 15, 2011

There is a grape hitting town in bigger numbers and it is time to take a good hard look at the Spanish variety Mencia.  It is a red grape, known a Jaen in Portugal, with a tendency to make weak, mid bodied wines.  It had a local appeal, but bringing it to the world palate needed some changes. Growers started working on crop management, vinification techniques. This draws out the best in the grape and aging in French Oak barrels. What I have sampled to this point is perfectly agreeable. It holds the old world value of earth, good tannins and power for the sake of food pairing while being very approachable now.  Here is a stand out for me.

Manium Mencia Crianza, Bierzo, Spain, 2007,------------CSPC#741931. The vines are between fifty and one hundred years old, producing concentrated low yields of highly flavoured grapes. The wine has earth, blackberry and enough grippy tannin that says it could age two to three years.

Available at Keg n Cork in Edmonton or find it at www.liquorconnect.com in Alberta.

by Heather Kingston