Adras Mencia Ribeira Sacra Red

Winery	Isaac Fernandez Seleccion
Region	Ribera Sacra
Appellation	Ribera Sacra
Type	Red Wine
Varietal	Mencia
Vineyard Size	20 hectares
Soil	Slate and decomposed granite
Vineyard Orientation	South or Southeast, 250 meters above sea level
Average Age of Vines	40 years old
Farming Practice	Conventional
Maturation	4 months in oak barrels
Vintage	2016

The vineyards producing grapes for this wine are planted with 40 year old Mencia vines. The soils are composed of slate and decomposed granite. Yields are limited through pruning and green harvest to encourage concentration of flavor in the finished wine. Leaves are also pulled during the growing season to ensure good air flow through the canopy as well as encourage ripening of the grapes. The Mencia grapes were harvested in the last week of September in 18KG boxes and transported to the winery via refrigerated truck. Grape clusters were hand sorted prior to de-stemming and light crushing. Alcoholic fermentation commenced utilizing native yeast. Extraction of flavors from skins was encouraged by 3 pump overs daily until the end of fermentation. Following malolactic fermentation, also with native microbes, the wine was aged for 4 months in oak barrels. Bottled in April 2013.

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Tech Sheet

91pts View from the Cellar– 2016 vintage

The 2016 Adrás Mencía from Isaac Fernandez is another excellent value, as it has been every vintage that I have had the pleasure to taste it. These fifty-plus year-old Mencía vines have succeeded nicely in 2016, offering up a fine aromatic constellation of cassis, pepper, espresso, graphite, a superb base of slate and a topnote of bonfire. On the palate the wine is pure, fullbodied and nicely sappy at the core, with impressive transparency, modest tannins and a long, tangy and complex finish. This is still a young wine and will gain in complexity with further bottle age, but it is very nicely balanced out of the blocks and already a pleasure to drink. Quite a classic example of the slightly more delicate style of Mencía planted on the terraces above the Miño River.

90pts Wine & Spirits Magazine– 2016 vintage

Bright and spicy, this wine packs the raw power of its black slate soils, its flavors buried in blueberry-skin tannins, hinting at red-fruit notes of strawberries under all the meaty warmth. Give it a year or two to mellow, then serve with braised pork.

90pts International Wine Review– 2016 vintage

This bottling displays a black raspberry nose with earthy dark red fruit, and a hint of smoke on the palate. It has a medium weight palate but reveals quite rich flavors and good length with a nice silky texture.

Adras Mencia Ribeira Sacra Red