If your palate’s fatigued from one dimensional wines or if you just need something odd and funky in your life, give this $9.99 bottle a try. Hailing from Bierzo, Spain, this wine is made up of 100% indigenous Mencia grapes. I had never heard of Mencia before, and the label wasn’t very descriptive. So, I went to my wine books, which didn’t have any info on it either.
But what a pleasant surprise!
The nose was of ripe black cherries and berries with grassy and herbal aromas as well. I suspect the subtle herbal notes are due to the wine being aged in oak barrels, since there was also a bit of spice. The wine itself was jammy and peppery in flavor with medium acidity and a bit of funkiness to it – like what you might get from a wine that’s been cellared for a decade.
I wouldn’t recommend this for non-adventurous wine drinkers, but I personally enjoyed the complexity of this wine and the newness of it. The closest thing I can liken it to is if some crazed winemaker blended Zinfandel, Syrah, and Mouvedre together. I’d enjoy this on its own or with wild game and mild cheeses.
