The Ramon Valle Mencía is made from handpicked, 100% Mencía fruit sourced from 45-55-year-old vines planted at 450-580m above sea level.
Ripe black cherry in colour. Elegantly scented with red and blackberries, alongside a balsamic and mineral background, with a sophisticated, lively and fresh mouthfeel.
'Wine is a living element in constant evolution'
Cool pre-fermentation macerated for 3-5 days at 4-6ºC followed by a week-long (or more) fermentation. Malolactic fermentation takes 5-9 days which is followed by seven months in French, Russian and American oak barrels and five months in bottle.
The astonishing slates and granites of Bierzo, and the region's unique position both exposed to yet protected from the Atlantic, makes for some sensationally exciting wines based on the Mencia variety (the same as Dão's Jaen). Our judges loved the brooding aromatic asperities of this jet-black wine, and its plunging wild-plum-and-mountain-herb flavours, improbably allied to a texture of pure velvet. Few wines, too, in our Best In Show selection this year have a longer finish than this eerie, haunting beauty.
97 points and Best in Show, Decanter World Wine Awards 2020
