Why Aren't You Drinking Mencía?

Casar de Burbia Bierzo Mencía Casar 2019 Link to the wine: https://www.winex.com/casar-de-burbia-bierzo-mencia-casar-2019.html Join our Daily Email Offer List: https://cdn.forms-content.sg-form.com/f3da488a-d10b-11ee-94a3-62718bdc6118 We have a question. Why aren't more people drinking Mencía? Seriously. It's one of Spain's most fascinating red varieties, and Bierzo is one of Europe's great places to grow it. Yet mention Mencía to many wine drinkers and they hesitate. So we're trying again. And if there's ever been a bottle capable of converting somebody to Mencía, César Márquez's entry-level Bierzo might be it. The story begins before modern Bierzo became fashionable. In 1989, César began acquiring tiny parcels around the village of Valtuille de Arriba. At the time, many growers were replacing old Palomino vineyards with Mencía. Instead of simply ripping everything out and starting over, César recognized the value of the ancient vines already in the ground. He eventually assembled an extraordinary patchwork of 27 hectares spread across 52 separate parcels, including vineyards with root systems reaching 70 to 100 years of age. In some cases, old Palomino vines were grafted over to Mencía, preserving those mature root systems while changing the variety growing above ground. That's serious viticulture. And César's approach in the cellar follows the same philosophy. The vineyards are organically farmed, fermentation relies on indigenous yeasts, and the wine is raised in French oak. This isn't some industrially produced bargain wine engineered to hit a price point. The farming and winemaking belong in the same conversation as the producers who helped make modern Bierzo famous. The difference is that César has largely flown beneath the radar. The wine itself is a perfect introduction to why Mencía can be so compelling. Mencía is something of a chameleon. Depending on vineyard and terroir, it can show the floral, herbal character of Cabernet Franc, the savory personality of the Loire, or the darker fruit and weight of the Rhône Valley. This bottle lands beautifully in the middle. There's gorgeous color and plenty of ripe black and red fruit, but it's never heavy. Florals, herbs, spice and savory mineral notes give the wine complexity, while the old vines provide concentration and depth. There's real stuffing here, but also enough freshness and energy to make the bottle dangerously easy to drink. This is exactly what we want from an everyday house red. At its normal $20 retail price, we'd already consider it a terrific value considering the old vines, difficult hillside vineyards, organic farming and serious winemaking behind it. At $9.98? Come on. We taste thousands of wines. If someone poured this blind and told us it cost $25 or $30, we wouldn't blink. Instead, it's ten bucks. So we're asking one more time: Why aren't you drinking Mencía? Because at $9.98, you've officially run out of excuses.