Mencía

From Villafranca del Bierzo to Sober

In Villafranca del Bierzo, José Mas makes a single wine from Mencía, the Massuria, from vines planted between 1912 and 1970. Near San Lorenzo del Bierzo, the Fariña brothers work very old bush vines for Sangarida. Further west, in Galicia, the grape grows on the terraces above the Sil: at Algueira in Doade, at Guímaro in Amandi and at Ronsel do Sil right by the river. Carlos Carballo makes wine in the same area but does without the DO. Our Mencía story tells how the grape was brought back.

What the soil does

In the Ribeira Sacra, Mencía roots in slate and granite, and the wines have a cool, salty edge. In Bierzo the vines mostly stand on loam and clay, at Mas Asturias partly on gravel, and the wines come out fruitier and rounder. Both keep alcohol moderate: the Guímaro Mencía has 12.5 percent, Ronsel do Sil's Vel'Uveyra 12. Mencía often smells of violets and sour cherry. Serve it at 15 to 16 degrees, a little cooler than you would serve most reds.

From steel tank to old Massuria

• Guímaro Mencía 2023, Ribeira Sacra: vines averaging 40 years on slate, granite and sand, six months in steel tanks, no wood.
• Ronsel do Sil Vel'Uveyra Mencía 2023, Ribeira Sacra, on granite: fermented with wild yeast in a 5,500-litre oak vat, then seven months in 500-litre barrels.
• Sangarida Pico Tuerto 2021, San Lorenzo del Bierzo: bush vines planted between 1901 and 1910, wild-yeast fermentation, twelve months in 500-litre French oak barrels.
• Algueira Pizarra 2017, Ribeira Sacra, on slate: whole bunches trodden by foot, more than 30 days on the skins, 12 to 18 months in barrels and large vats.
• Massuria 2007, Villafranca del Bierzo: picked early by hand in a warm year, aged twelve months in French barriques and in bottle ever since.

Bierzo first, then the Ribeira Sacra

Our advice: try Mencía from Bierzo first, for example Sangarida's Pico Tuerto, and only then open a bottle from the slate slopes along the Sil. In that order the freshness of the Galician wines stands out more clearly, while a Bierzo tasted after a wine from Amandi or Doade can come across as heavy.