1979 Portugal

From a single parcel of vines, La Faraona is the best Mencia on the market. The nose is beautiful with heady violets, lavender, crushed rocks and forest floor. Alongside the abundance of aromatics, this has fleshy, ripe fruit flavours and captivating smoky oak notes from the 600-litre barrels. The minerality keeps everything fresh and pure but a powerful structure suggests this will be a long lived one. This has such a long finish, showing all the details and layers you expect in exceptional wine.
Laura Atkinson - Private Account Manager

Platinum medal winner at the 2016 Decanter World Wine Awards

These 60+-year-old Mencia vines around the village of Corullon are farmed biodynamically, and you can almost sense earthy, savouriness on the nose, full of generous plum and mulberry fruit. The palate has a lovely textural mouthcoating quality, hints of roasted meat and mocha. Great juice balanced off with crisp acidity, spice and pepper. Drink now and over the next five years.
Stuart Rae -  Private Account Manager

Bierzo's principal grape is the obscure, indigenous red variety Mencía. While Bierzo is a relatively new wine appellation (a DO since 1989), it has a wealth of very old vines, planted on extremely steep hillsides, and in this respect it much resembles the Priorat region. Alvaro Palacios, with his nephew Ricardo Perez, established Descendientes de J. Palacios in 1998 in the village of Villafranca del Bierzo.

This is almost the definitive expression of Mencía, its vines perched on a stark vineyard of pure schist. Typically aromatic, this Mencía combines concentration with remarkable finesse. Floral notes lead to dark, well-defined blueberry and blackberry fruit. It has lovely depth, but is linear in style, so you’ll experience a luxurious glide along the palate. There is a real lightness of touch on show here. Very classy indeed.