what is Mencia??

So what exactly is Mencia??

According to many, it is one of the most "up-and-coming" varietals in the world. It is considered a distant cousin to France's Cabernet Franc and holds many rich layers at a very reasonable price (starting in the low $20 range).

I walked into Marquis wine cellars on Denman ave tonight with high expectations: the staff @ Marquis have always been incredibly helpful & I was on a mission!

This week in class I had (2) breakthroughs; the first was that I actually saw the color green in a white wine. Honestly, I thought I was going color-blind (lol)... everyone talking about hints of green in white wines and I'm wondering if they've been drinking ethyl alcohol. But no - I actually saw it. The second breakthrough was I tasted minerality in a white wine...

Flint? Granite? I'm drinking wine - why would I be tasting gravel? Is there something wrong with the bottle??? But once again, paying for the sommelier class is paying off & DJ Kearney is earning her wage. I tasted minerals... I tasted Granite, and I liked it!

So anyways, I went into Marquis for wines that would be distinctively mineral, and walked out a bit poorer - and as of this evening, much happier with 2 wonderful white and the Mencia for tonight... the mineral-whites will follow later.

WINE A

• clear color; intense ruby
• clean nose; smoked tea, leather, lanolin (wet sheep's wool - but in a really good way)(no- really)
• 00 dryness, moderate+ acid, moderate+tannin; chalk, cherry, blackberry, vanilla & apple pips

moderate+body, high in alcohol @ 14% (but very smooth- tasting more like 11 or 12%), deep length on the palate (more than 10 seconds)

2006 Mencia , $25

"Baltos" from Dominio de Tares in Bierzo, north-western Spain