Anyone who has ever seen photographs of the steep slopes of Ribeira Sacra will wonder how it is possible to produce a wine like this in our Value category - but here it is, dark, fresh and thrillingly aromatic from first sniff to last swallow. This limpid, unoaked wine is made from the Mencia grape variety (known as Jaen in Portugal) plus a little Garnacha and Souson, and the emphasis is on its sloe, bramble and damson fruits in all their primary glory, almost as if it had been run from the vats just a week or two earlier. The palate is soft-textured, mouth-filling, exuberant and comely, structured more prominently by acidity than tannin, though that acidity is sweet and juicy in its own right.
by DC, Decanter , 2021
This is a fresh and bright, raw-grape beauty. It's all primary pleasure, pungent, in-your-face blackberry fruit, simple and friendly. "The blood of the earth, in a good way," one panelist said. A summery cookout red.
by WS, Wine Spirits , 2021
Matilda Nieves Mencía is crafted by the prestigious Bodegas Rectoral de Amandi winery. Commissioned by the famous local artist Pablo Guerreo, "We try to transmit the magic and elegant spirit of Mencía from the Ribeira Sacra. The mystery of a territory where the forest is a constant presence." All grapes are hand-picked, macerated and fermented with native yeasts, in contact with the skin of the grape for 15-20 days in stainless steel tank. Stabilized and bottled, thus obtaining a wine rich in aromas and complexity.
The label features a wood fairy on her swing, surrounded by the idyllic forests of the Ribeira Sacra, she leaves behind a tail of flavors evoking the unmistakable nuances of Mencía. The wine is named after one of the founder’s granddaughters, Manolo Arnoya, and made at the Rectoral de Amandi winery.
In the vineyards, the cultivation and care of the vines is maintained in a traditional way due to the diffculties of the terrain, a herd of sheep is in charge of keeping the vineyard clean, they freely graze between the vines without damaging them, fertilizing the terrain and keeping it clean in a much more environmentally friendly way than any machinery and avoiding artificial fertilizers. Furthermore, in all the vineyards we have meteorological stations and temperature sensors that provide us with information that allows us to anticipate the appearance of fungal diseases and reduce the use of phytosanitary treatments, that is, only when the risk of disease is very high.