Description
“I tasted two vintages of the young red, the 2018 Vino Tinto and the just bottled 2019. 2018 was a cool and wet year with some challenges, but it resulted in very fresh wines. At Guímaro, they have started picking earlier to keep alcohol down and retain more acidity in the grapes. This is mostly Mencía complemented by some 15% other grapes—Brancellao, Merenzao, Garnacha Tintorera, Mouratón, Negreda,Sousón… The grapes come from different vineyards (70% from the Sil, 30% form the Miño), ages, soils and orientations. It was bottled at 13% alcohol after four to eight months with the lees but without bâtonnage. I tasted from a bottle filled in August (they do more than one bottling), and the wine is serious and lasts in bottle, unlike other young wines that can hardly live after the summer. Right now, this 2018 seems to be in a sweet spot. It’s very expressive, young and fresh but has settled in bottle. In 2018, they used some of the young wine to keep the oak vats filled at all times so that some lots can be in oak vats short periods, and this helps the wines to avoid reduction, as Mencía in stainless steel can sometimes be reductive. This is drinking perfectly, but it should easily last for another 4-5 years. 100,000 bottles produced.” 91 Luis Gutierrez