The Liquid Geography Mencia Rosado 2015 is a dry Rose’ wine sourced from 53 year old vines in the Bierzo DO (north of the eastern boundary of Portugal) of Castilla y Leon of northwest Spain. The vineyards practice organic farming methods. Mencia is a Red grape that is indigenous to the area and Bierzo has a wine history that dates back to the Roman times. This Rose’ sees no oak and is fermented and aged in stainless steel vats. 100% of the profits for the Liquid Geography (40,000 bottles produced, so it should be fairly easy to find) go to charity, 50% to the TJ Martell Foundation to for cancer research and 50% to the South Bronx Educational Foundation to help change the lives of young people at risk. The alcohol content is 13%.
The color is Barbie doll pink. The nose is strawberries, cherry, lemon and spring flowers. This is a dry Rose’ with bold flavors. It starts with hard cherry candy (without the candy sweetness), strawberry and lemon. The mid-palate adds lime and melon. The acidity is solid and balanced. The finish is full and long.
The Liquid Geography Mencia Rosado 2015 is a delicious Rose’, it has the flavor to work well as a food wine and the crisp acidity to serve as a summer cooler. Because Rose’ wines do not have much grape skin contact (they remove the skins from the juice early, that is why the color is pink and not Red and grape skins contain tannins, so Rose’ have very little tannins) and they typically are not aged in newer oak barrels (so no oak flavors are added), the grape flavors that are masked by the tannins and the oak in Red wine are revealed in Rose’ wine. That makes Rose’ wines kind of the flip-side of Red wine. To me, that makes Rose’ wines interesting, because you can discover textures and flavors that can be easily overlooked in Red wine made from the same grape as a Rose’. Not only is Rose’ wine tasty and refreshing, it is also educational.
