Matilda Nieves Mencia 2020 – 750ml Monsieur Touton

97pts Decanter

Anyone who has ever seen photographs of the steep slopes of Ribeira Sacra will wonder how it is possible to produce a wine like this in our Value category — but here it is, dark, fresh and thrillingly aromatic from first sniff to last swallow. This limpid, unoaked wine is made from the Mencia grape variety (known as Jaen in Portugal) plus a little Garnacha and Souson, and the emphasis is on its sloe, bramble and damson fruits in all their primary glory, almost as if it had been run from the vats just a week or two earlier. The palate is soft-textured, mouth-filling, exuberant and comely, structured more prominently by acidity than tannin, though that acidity is sweet and juicy in its own right. There is nothing at all sharp or hard about this tender, almost lip-smacking red … yet the variety itself, and the legacy of its austere, granite-soiled origins, somehow contrive to stop the wine tasting simple.

91pts Wine & Spirits

This is a fresh and bright, raw-grape beauty. It’s all primary pleasure, pungent, in-your-face blackberry fruit, simple and friendly. “The blood of the earth, in a good way,” one panelist said. A summery cookout red.

91pts Wilfred Wong

The 2020 Bodegas Rectoral de Amandi Ribera Sacra is a picture perfect Mencia. This wine offers aromas and flavors of earth, black fruit, dust. Enjoy it with grilled skewered pork. (Tasted: February 1, 2022, San Francisco, CA)

Winemaker Notes

Cherry red wine with violet intensity of bright intensity. A beautifully balanced Mencía with raspberries and blackberries with light notes of licorice. Round and complex with soft touches of tannin providing a persistent finish.

A perfect pairing with grilled red meat, roasted pork and braised lamb.

Blend: 85% Mencia, 8% Garnacha, 7% Souson