2018 ROC Mencia

I was really looking forward to the 2018 ROC and curious to compare it with the 2019. It's the most classical and serious of the reds here, with the finesse from the sandy soils. It comes from old vines from two plots in Valtuille de Abajo, El Couso and La Rata, and it fermented with 100% full clusters in a 5,000-liter open-top oak vat with indigenous yeasts and matured for 17 months in second and third use 228-liter French oak barrels. It has a medium body and moderate alcohol at 13.3%, with good freshness and balance. The Mencía is never very high in acidity, so the thing is to look for freshness and balance. It has a super Burgundian nose, perfumed, complex, elegant and nuanced. Ortega said she noticed notes of matcha tea for the first time today; the wine is gaining in complexity. It has the volume of the wines from the valley with the freshness of the year. It has to be the finest ROC to date. It was what I was expecting. Bravo! 5,970 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2020.