Mencia Red Wines

Native to the north-west of Spain - both the continental province of Leon and atlantic-influenced Galicia. Known locally as 'Medoc'. In fact, Mencia is clonally linked by DNA to Cabernet Franc (think Petrus, though, not Chinon!). This means very little, though - after all, shiraz and riesling are merely clonal variants of precisely the same original material. Any way you look at it, Mencia is an autochthonous variety.

Despite Mencia clearly being the best red wine variety (of dozens) native to Galicia, outright rusticity in production and elevation of fruit means that until now little good (let alone, interesting) wine has been made from the variety. But, that's all changing rapidly … nothing at all cabernet-like about it when well handled: you're more likely to see something that looks like a cross between Cornas (wild, spicey northern Rhone syrah) and funky top-end Burgundy. An absolute feature is a long, fine, extremely silky thread of fruit tannin all the way down the palate.