One of a plethora of local red varieties from northwest Spain, Mencía is particularly popular in DOs like Bierzo or Ribeira Sacra, Monterrei and Valdeorras in Galicia (you may also have seen it as Jaen in the Dão region of Portugal). Traditionally it was grown on flat plains, giving high yields and quite diluted wines which no one thought very much of. Then, as part of the wine revival that has swept Spain in recent years, some of the country’s star producers like Raúl Pérez, or uncle and nephew combo Alvaro Palacios and Ricardo Pérez Palacios, all from Bierzo, began to make single varietal Mencía wines from older vines on hillier plots, and really started to showcase the variety’s potential to make distinctive wines which sing with a sense of place.
Find out more: www.simplyspanishwine.com/col...