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Petit Pittacum Mencia 2022We have been enamoured with the mencia based wines of Spaces northwest since first we tried them. Their beautiful lifted nose spiked with mineral accents that flowed onto graceful pallets raked with fine granit like tannins an earthy savouryness at the edges. They are something akin to cru Beaujolias crossed with the finest reds of the loire and we just cant get enough.
Bodegas Pittacum is owned by the Terras Gauda operation and is situated in Argaza in the heart of Bierzo and made from grape sourced from small plots of organically grown 90 year old vines grown in clay soils on steep slopes.
Glace fruits with crème de mure and raspberry coulis flecked with granitic mineral shards. Mid weight styling come from slippery red fruits and a gentle burst of freshness that comes not from acidity but from a deep mineral vein soaked up from the long roots and rocky slopes. Its like a bowl of mixed berry smashed onto rock and is absolutely delightful. If you have not had the wines of the region or mencia this is a belter of an introduction.
2021menciaSpain355$30.00 As low as $27.00 -
Cesar Marquez Parajes del Bierzo Mencia 2021The super affordable 2021 Parajes really overdelivers in this cool year. It was produced with grapes from up to 45 different plots in nine villages, trying to capture the essence of Bierzo. This regional red mixes soils and altitudes, mostly very old plots and therefore planted with a field blend with a majority of Mencía but also around 10% Alicante Bouschet and 5% whites or other reds like Bastardo, Souson or Estaladiña. It fermented by plot in stainless steel and plastic bins with some full clusters, indigenous yeasts and variable macerations, ranging between 15 and 60 days. Seventy-five percent of the volume matured in 225-, 400- and 500-liter barrels and the rest in a 5,000-liter oak foudre. It's aromatic, floral, perfumed and elegant, with a medium-bodied palate and very fine tannins. It is round and juicy, with very fine tannins and depth and complexity, corresponding to a much more expensive wine. A bargain. He harvested quite early in 2021, and the wines have moderate alcohol. 29,504 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2022. LUIS GUITIERREZ, Wine Advocate
2021menciaSpain355$38.00 As low as $34.20 -
Massimo 2022Comprising of almost all Mencía with just a dash of Tempranillo and Sousón, this expressive, light bodied wine captures the very essence of Ribeira Sacra, grown on slopes above the River Sil so vertiginous they can only be worked by hand. Flavours of blueberries, blackcurrants, and herbs with fresh, lifted acidity. BARRICA WINES
2022mencia, tempranilloSpain471$43.00 As low as $38.70 -
Envinate Lousas Vinas de Aldea Mencia 2022The bottled 2022 Lousas Viñas de Aldea is aromatic, extroverted, open and immediate, floral, perfumed and expressive, with a juicy and round palate. It's fleshy and round, still with 12.5% alcohol on the label but possibly a tad riper than the 2023 sample I tasted next to it. It's a very approachable vintage for this cuvée. 25,200 bottles and 360 magnums produced. It was bottled in November 2023. LUIS GUTIERREZ, The Wine Advocate
There are some incredible things happening in Spanish wine right now and one of the producers at the heart of this revolution are Envinate. A project between four winemakers who met studying oenology in Alicante in the mid two thousands bonded around a shared ideology and desire to explore and express the underappreciated terroirs of Western Spain. Envinate has since risen to become one of the icons of 'New Spain' a movement which is has reached a crescendo in recent years as young producers strive to craft wines that showcase a patchwork of Spanish terroirs, using indidgenous grapes farmed fastidiously and rendered into wines without artifice.2022menciaSpain471$54.00 As low as $48.60 -
Cesar Marquez Parajes del Bierzo 2022César Márquez Parajes is a coupage of the most prestigious and unique Bierzo plots. Old vines grown as they used to be, without using pesticides or chemicals that can damage the natural balance of the terroir. Each of the plots is worked separately according to their needs and the harvest is carried out manually.
In the winery, 50% of the grapes used to make César Márquez Parajes are destemmed. Then they are pressed in the old-fashioned way, with feet, so that some of them stay whole during fermentation. Fermentation is spontaneous with the grape’s native yeasts. Once the must becomes wine, it is pressed and placed into 225 and 500 litre barrels separately. After 12 months the barrels are emptied and the different wines are combined.
César Márquez Parajes remains true to its roots. A wine that overflows with natural elegance as a result of the quality of the raw material and the expertise of the makers. Freshness with enveloping smoothness. DECANTER
2022menciaSpain355$38.00 As low as $34.20 -
Occhipinti Santa Margherita (SM) Bianco 2023Some years ago, my passion always growing for white wines and my desire to produce white wine to recount the limestone and the sense of the rock of the Iblei Mounts, I started to search for a place where to plant a new vineyard. In 2016 after some research, I found Santa Margherita, a contrada I fell in love with, at the base at the foot of Chiaramonte Gulfi, an ancient village on the Iblei Mounts. The vineyard, sited at 490 meters on the level of the sea, surrounded by pine forest, oaks and secular olive trees, is divided in 4 parcels on sandy calcareous marl of whitish colour, with sand and yellowish white calcarenites. They are sediments that comes from sea since Pleistocene period. The parcels Costa Sud and Costa Nord, with a training system method called alberello, they have rich soil about gypsum and fossils and give complexity and salinity. The parcels Terrazza and Trefile, with a training system, alberello growing on trellis, are rich about limestone and give more pulp and acidity. The variety? The Grillo. White grape variety, with great personality, very diffused in west Sicily and since last ten years in East Sicily too with historic name of Riddu. Probably it is a cross of Zibibbo and Catarratto. It has a good aromatic intensity, that remind you of typical citrus notes accompanied by spicy vegetal notes and white flowers. It has a good balance between the alcoholic sensation and the acidity, and it is particularly savory. In this way, I would like that this variety be considered an intermediary, a tool available to the terroir and not the aim. The wine, after a short maceration of 48 hours, ferments spontaneously in concrete and oval Austrian oak barrel, in which it has aged for 12 months. ARIANNA OCCHIPINTI2023GrilloItaly482$150.00 As low as $135.00 -
Marco de Bartoli Marsala Oro Superiore Riserva DOC Marsala Superiore (Grillo) 1988 500mlThe 1988 Marsala Superiore Oro Riserva is a dark amber color with orange hues. It opens with a spice-box bouquet that takes all the confections of Autumn and Christmas blended with dried apricots, peaches and cedar shavings. It's silky smooth yet lifted and decidedly savory, with a burst of ground ginger and sour citrus complicating its remnants of tart orchard fruit. Butterscotch comes together with clove and golden raisin as the 1988 finishes impossibly long and potent. It shows just a touch of forgivable heat as suggestions of hazelnut linger on and on. More like a brown spirit than a wine, the 1988 is irresistible. ERIC GUIDO1988Dessert, GrilloItaly482$310.00 As low as $279.00 -
Marco de Bartoli Marsala Vergine Riserva DOC Marsala (Grillo) 1988 500mlThe only vergine riserva ever made by de Bartoli who was encouraged to try this style by Berry Bros and Rudd
The 1988 Marsala Vergine Riserva mixes amber with red hues, lifting up dusty and savory with notes of cave-aged gouda, quince, baked apple and clove. With time in the glass, it gains in volume, evolving to show rich dark chocolates and dried roses. There are depths of texture here, yet it's wonderfully balanced by vibrant acidity as salted caramel and exotic spices wash across the palate, leaving a coating of mineral-drenched orchard fruits under an air of burnt sugar and tobacco. The experience goes on and on, as minutes can go by, and you're still not just tasting but feeling the 1988's glycerol heft lingering incredibly long. This edition of the Vergine Riserva was bottled in 2019, which is stated on the front label. ERIC GUIDO
Toasted hazelnuts, mahogany, hard cheese touches, toast and spice. Touch of sweet fruit to enter, then toasted hazelnut and walnut. Spice, some chew, with a very long, pain d'épices and toasted hazelnut finish. Salty tang. 19% TIM JACKSON MW
1988Dessert, GrilloItaly482$360.00 As low as $324.00 -
Algueira Mencia Ribeira Sacra Risco 2019Merenzao is the same variety as Trousseau (and Bastardo in Portugal) and was probably brought to Ribeira Sacra by the Cistercian monks who set up camp here in the Middle Ages. Algueira’s Merenzao vines have an average age of 80 years and are rooted in a steep slope of gneiss, quartz and slate in the Amandi Gorge. The fruit sees a wild yeast, 100% whole-bunch ferment, is pressed by foot and aged for 12 months in old oak and some local chestnut vessels.
The result is an extraordinary, unique wine with a complex perfume of finely detailed fruit characters that recalls wild cherry steeped with blood orange, rose and a tincture of wild herb. There’s more colour and muscular density from the solar year, yet it remains super lucid and tender and finishes long, leaving behind a lick of elegant tannin and a perfume of sweet red berries and smoky minerals. This is one tasty Bastardo!
2021menciaSpain355$125.00 As low as $112.50