Mencia & friends, Bierzo, Spain

Veronica Ortega was born and raised in Andalucian sherry territory but instead found herself attracted to wine, working at wineries around the world including the famed Niepoort in the Douro Valley and v. fancy Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in Burgundy. Returning to Spain, she moved to Bierzo gradually acquiring tiny, ancient plots on steep slopes, many unworked for many years. The star grape here is Mencia, the famed light red of Spain's northwest. Picked from 50 year old vines, the grapes are pressed into amphora, barriques and foudres, then bottled without fining or filtration, integrating all that rich fruit with an extra-textural twist. Dark, savoury red and blue fruit in a lithe and lustrous package, like every berry smushed together cooked down to their essential flavours with a bow on top. Smoked cherry, dirty cranberry, wet earth & chewing tobacco. Kinda like Syrah riding a handsome black steed. Pair with ambitiously charred proteins.
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