Bodegas Peique Ramon Valle – Smoky, Meaty Love

BULK BUY!

100% Mencia from Bierzo, Castilla y Leon, Spain.

SRP of $18 and purchased for $12.99. Imported by Steve Miles Selections.

From the bottle:

“Covered ripe sweet-cherry color, with a purple, clean and shiny hue. A mixture of red and black fruit, spices (black pepper, cinnamon), chocolate, young toasty wood and a mineral balsamic background on the nose. Full, fleshy, velvety, very good structure without being astringent, sweet tannins, balanced glyceric fruit. Balsamic finish with licorice notes and a sweet bitterness in the finish.

8 months in oak barrels: 60% French, 30% Russian, 10% American; 2 months in bottle.

14.5% Alcohol”

One of the wonderful things about being a winelover is the almost endless supply of grape varieties to try. By my count we’ve covered about 170 of them here on The Reverse Wine Snob and yet it seems like we’ve only scratched the surface. Today we get to try a new one grown primarily in northwest Spain.

Mencia is a thick-skinned, violet-blue grape that was once thought to be Cabernet Franc. The variety has grown in popularity recently as winemakers have used the excellent old vine fruit to make much more interesting wines that what was traditionally made from the grape. In the case of today’s wine the vines are 45-55 years old.

The 2009 Bodegas Peique Ramon Valle begins with lots of ripe, delicious blackberry and licorice, but that’s not all. There’s also a hearty aroma of smoky meat (not Brett as far as I can tell) and even some nice floral notes. When tasting the smoky, meaty flavors continue along with dark juicy fruit, mineral streaks, licorice, wonderful balsamic notes and more. It ends with a long, savory, dry finish. This is a darn tasty wine.

See a listing of local retailers selling this wine here.

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