SOLD OUT! Want to try something a little bit different? Something that will push your palate a little bit further? Something that we think is as delicious as it is interesting?
If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you owe it to yourself to try a bottle of the 2010 Mencos Rioja Blanco. It’s an extreme value that will appeal to a number of palates, but specifically to those who appreciate European-styled, mineral driven whites.
2010 Mencos Rioja Blanco
Mineral-driven white with serious complexity at a terrific price!
SOLD OUT
Mencos is an immaculate estate, owned by the Conde de Hervais, located in the higher altitude vineyards of Rioja Alta. The current patriarch of the estate is Inigo Manso de Zuniga, and the land and the vineyards have been under his family’s control since 1260! All of the vineyards are farmed using the principles of bidoynamics, the earliest form of organic agriculture, and the wine is a terrific demonstration of the quality and value that can be found in the right small bodegas.
Noted wine writer/critic Stephen Tanzer of The International Wine Cellar praised this wine, calling it a “tremendous value,” and giving it a 90 point score; his suggested retail on the wines is $15. Based entirely on 30+ year old Viura, the most prolific white grape of Rioja, the wine is fermented entirely in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts.
It is a subtle, deceptively powerful, and long wine exhibiting aromas of pear, lemon zest, intense mineral and subtle herb. On the palate, the wine is dry and firm, with energetic orchard fruits and complex citrus up front, finishing with that intense mineral note that only comes from old vines planted in rocky soils. Enjoy this one on your porch or patio nicely chilled or serve with shellfish or mildly flavored, flaky white fish.
If you like super fruity white wines, this probably isn’t for you, but if you like your whites really dry and mineralic, this is your bottle!
Josh Spurling
Owner, Operator, Wine Monger
Table Wine Asheville