2015 Algueira Carravel 2015 750ml

This Mencía cuvee hails from two parcels of mature vines hugging the perilously steep, cool, slate and schist soils of the Amandi gorge. The fruit is, of course, hand-harvested, then foot-trodden and fermented with roughly 30% whole bunches in large wooden, tronconique vats before being raised for between 12 and 18 months in neutral 600-litre barrels and some very old barriques. According to Jesús Barquín and the authors of The Finest Wines of Rioja and Northwest Spain, it's a wine that "... has more in common with a fine Côte de Nuits than with the image most people have of Spanish reds." . There's a lovely, sweet perfume of dark fruits and liquorice as well as some wild herb, garrigue-like influence. The palate is deep and surprisingly powerful with impressive intensity of dark cherry, star anise, and smoky, mineral notes. Tightly wound, this still has years ahead of it. Côte de Nuits eat your heart out.

In ALGUEIRA CARRAVEL, we find the grapes of our best plots of Doade, fermenting each one of them separately and assembling after the ageing. We can say that it is a wine of exceptional vintages in our plots. In this case, the Mencía 100% is made either in steel or in barrel, with or without scrap, depending mainly on the plot of origin. Its ageing takes place in barrels of different volumes for more than 12 months. It has a garnet red colour and middle layer, balsamic aromas and red fruit (wild strawberry). It emphasizes the roundness in the mouth with a balance between alcohol-acidity-tannins. The minerality of the area gives us a very long wine in the mouth.