2013 ROC Mencia
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Tasting notes
95% Mencía, 5% white grapes from old vines. Aged in second- and third-use French oak barrels. Tasted blind. The wine shows a premature oxidative character. It has an open expression, with ripe black fruits, cigar box, forest floor and dust. It is very open, and the fruit is starting to decline but the tannins remain. It is slightly dull due to its evolution. (FC)
Critic scores
Average Score
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
I was really looking forward to tasting the 2013 ROC, a wine that had shown quite differently in its four vintages. It's a pure Mencía from two very old plots in the village of Valtuille de Abajo on sandy soils, which provide for finesse in the wines. Fifty percent full clusters were used for the fermentation with natural yeasts. The wine was worked manually with pigeage and the élevage was in second and third use 228-liter French oak barrels. The nose is very aromatic, with plenty of violets intermixed with notes of blood orange peel and the freshness of the stems, not only in the nose but also in the palate. The wine is nicely textured with fine tannins and medium weight. This is really elegant, combining power with something ethereal. 4,500 bottles were filled in January 2015.
Bottled May 2015. Peppery, exotic, rarified – really captures the best of the variety. Delicate structure, subtle fragrance, gentle persistence – it's understated yet totally satisfying. (RH)