#75- Mencia

I had to go and purchase another bottle of the Peique Beirzo Tinto Mencia bottle of wine so Craig can try it (I'll bring it on our camping trip next weekend) so we may have a slight revision to this post. I purchased the wine at Aristocrat Liquor in Edmonton. it looks like a total dive but I'm rather impressed by the selection of wines they have there. I was able to pick up 5 wines there that I hadn't tried before. Never judge a book by its cover I guess.

The wine is from the Peique Bierzo in Spain.

We drank the bottle of Mencia at our wine club last weekend and with us having just drank 6 ports, sherries and Australian stickies, it was really hard to determine if I liked this wine or not. Anyone drinking it there loved it simply because it wasn't sweet. I know our host Miranda and her husband ended up finishing the bottle so I can imagine it was half decent.

From what I can remember, I liked this red wine. It's not a grape that shows up on the Wine Grape Varietal table but it is a grape unto it's own and the bottle is very specific saying it is 100% Mencia grapes. It is a Spanish wine and it is similar to a Cabernet Franc. it is a bit on the sweet side and I'm guessing that's why there was very indistinguishable characteristics to it at the wine club. Here's hoping the second time around I can pull some more aromas and flavours from it. This type of wine (Mencia) is gaining popularity in Spain so look for it more and more.

We paired the wine with a Calabrese salad (Italian but similar in regions) as a Calabrese salad goes well with sweeter wines. I would say it was a great match and highly recommend the pairing. Besides being a very pretty salad, it's super easy to make and really good for you!

I am really looking forward to trying this wine again and seeing what I come up with this time.