Bodegas Mengoba 'de Espanillo' Mencia is a single vineyard wine from Gregroy’s finest vineyard which sits on decomposed slate at 700 meters above sea level and is made up of vines with an average age of 80 years old. The wine is aged in 2500l wooden casks for just under a year, is bottled unfiltered and has a small proportion of Godello and Alicante Bouschet (Garnacha Tintorera) blended into it. The wine is amazingly complex with fresh, aromatic and heady notes of dark cherry and red fruit along with floral notes, blueberry and that fantastic combination of sweet and savoury spice notes along with fresh herb notes. This is something special.

Bodegas Mengoba is owned and run by Gregory Perez who graduated from the school of Oenology in his hometown of Bordeaux, France before going on to work with Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste and Chateau Cos d’Estournel. Gregory had Bordeaux in his blood, but he was obsessed with the principals of terroir, biodiversity and organic viticulture which at the time, in the early noughties were not high on the agenda in Bordeaux. On the advice of a friend, Gregory relocated to the remote and relatively unknown northern Spanish region of Bierzo where he eventually established Bodegas Mengoba in 2007.

The Mengoba winery is in the town of San Juan de Carracedo and the vineyards are located thirty minutes north around the town of Espanillo. This is an area characterised by steep, rugged, south facing slopes which sit at between 600-850m above sea level. Hot days and cool nights along with constant air currents help produce grapes of amazing freshness and complexity. Gregory has several vineyard plots, all with their unique terroir but all farmed organically and in keeping with the local ecosystem. Although Mencia and Godello are the two main grape varieties, Gregory is also keen to use lesser known local varieties like Dona Blanco and Alicante Bouschet (Garnacha Tintorera) along with Estaladina.