2023 Guimaro, Mencia, Ribeira Sacra DO, Galicia, Spain.
Pedro Rodriquez’s Guimaro Mencia 2023 is an dark, earthy and seductive wine which agains reminds me of Crozes-Hermitage, like Graillot, meets Cru Beaujolais, like Clos de la Rolette Fleurie, with briar laced black raspberry, plum, currant and cherry fruits, along with hints of leather, anise, flinty mineral, forest floor, delicate florals and amaro notes. This medium bodied, slightly rustic, quaffable red wine from the Ribeira Sacra, is always a favorite and an exceptional value. Pedro Rodriguez’s family cool climate vineyards, above the Sil River, which for many generations were used to just grow grapes for a co-op, started bottling wine under the Guimaro, which means rebel in local dialect, back in 1991 and they were one of the first wineries to join the Ribeira Sacra DO in 1996, but the Guimaro label really got into gear when Pedro was mentored by the legendary Raul Perez, the godfather of the Mencia grape and well known for his Bierzo versions. Guimaro farms with all organic methods and careful to maintain small yields to craft remarkable collection Mencia based wines, as well as a Godello based white, which is also a rare and rewarding wine in the mold of a steely Chablis. Pedro is one of my favorite wine people and winemakers (not just from Spain) and I’m grateful to have met and tasted with him a few times and always recommend his wines, and in particular this one.
The Ribeira Sacra, or the Sacred Blanks in the native Gallego tongue, as mentioned in my prior reviews, has very hard to work vines looking down on the Sil River, which looks intriguingly like the Mosel with in fact similar soils, which are a combination of slate, schist, granite and sand with a cool climate that is heavily influenced by the Atlantic Ocean.The Guimaro Ribeira Sacra Tinto comes from several plots in the Amandi zone, which is mostly planted to Mencia, but also includes small amounts of other local varietals including Caiño, Merenzao (Trousseau) and Souson, which are hand harvested and sees about 35% whole cluster, native yeast fermentation and was raised with tank aging for 6 or so months with no oak being used. The region was been, as the winery notes, cultivated since Roman times, with Ribeira Sacra’s steep terraced vineyards, as mentioned above, are some of the most picturesque and treacherous to work vines in the world of wine, making this Guimaro bottling one of the best values around and it is really a gateway to understanding the wines of this special place. Pedro employs an old-fashioned winemaking method, that was reclaimed and adopted thanks to Perez’s guidance. The wines are made with a wild yeast fermentation(s), gentle extractions with foot treading in open-top vessels, plus limited raspón (stems) inclusion and working with ultra low sulfur, and while this wine was done in stainless, enhancing the purity of form and allow a raw authentic Mencia to shine through.
($24 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive