Description
Finca Cuarta, Ribeira Sacra Mencía
For years now, we here at SommSelect have been shouting from the hilltops about Ribeira Sacra Mencía, a category whose top bottlings stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the very best in Cru Beaujolais or Crozes-Hermitage. Yet it still seems it’s only the most devoted of Spanish vino aficionados who reach for it on the regular. Thanks to Finca Cuarta’s Mencía, that’s about to change.
This brambly, granite-laden, juicy yet serious bottle immediately hammered home why we hold this still-underappreciated region in such high regard. But more importantly, at $24, it’s flat-out one of the best values we’ve offered from a country that overflows with hidden gems. It might be priced for everyday drinking, but it’s made from the same raw materials that make the “sacred shore’s” best wines cost twice as much. Half-century-old vines, some of the most forbidding terroir on Earth, and Rúben Moure’s artisanal winemaking all combine for a sleek, polished, outrageously delicious wine that’ll have you joining in on our Mencía-praising chorus. It’s time to welcome Ribeira Sacra into your daily drinking stable!
Extreme terroir makes great wine, as evidenced by places like the Mosel and Douro valleys, but maybe nowhere is more extreme than Ribeira Sacra. Here in Galicia, in Spain’s cooler, greener northwest corner, Mencía and Godello vines cling to some of the most perilous slopes in the world. They overlook the converging Miño and Sil rivers, forming a “sacred shore,” hence the region’s name. These vines are essentially planted directly into hillsides so steep they’d make most Olympic skiers nervous. There’s no choice here but to do every drop of work by hand, and some plots are accessible only by boat. So hard are these vineyards to farm that, despite viticulture here dating back to the Romans, most were abandoned until recently. But a veritable revolution is afoot in Ribeira Sacra, with an ambitious new generation that’s devoting their life’s work to reclaiming these special vineyards. Rúben Moure of Finca Cuarta is one such revolutionary.
Rúben inherited the old vineyards he works from his grandfather. After working at the family winery for years, he struck out on his own in 2008 by founding the Prior de Pantón winery. He has at his disposal some of the best sites in the region, and prime among them is the “Finca Cuarta” plot which lends its name to today’s wine. This half-century-old outcropping of Mencía is planted to Ribeira Sacra’s signature mix of alluvial gravel over granite. Once all the laborious handwork is done for the year, Rúben hauls the fruit back to his winery where he employs relatively brief macerations and cool fermentations to preserve Mencía’s intrinsic lift and levity.
After a spate of hot vintages, 2021’s relatively cool temperatures were perfect for highlighting what makes the vividly fresh wines of Galicia so special. The Finca Cuarta Mencía pours a dark ruby core with a pink rim, the nose pouring forth with seemingly every berry under the sun: crushed blackberry, raspberry, mulberry, black cherry, pomegranate, all underlain by seductive, savory tones of tobacco, pulverized slate, and licorice. The palate, amply loaded with dark-hued fruit, is quite fleshy but with its mild tannins and snappy acids, it’s both voluminously deep and effortlessly refreshing. Perfect with a chill, it’s one of those bottles that tend to disappear as soon as it’s opened. It’s perfect with so many different dishes, from grilled meats to heartier veggie preparations, meaning you can never have too many bottles on hand. Stock up, and welcome Ribeira Sacra into your rotation!
