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Somos Wines

2021

Mencía

Adelaide Hills - Australia
Shelf Talker Spec Sheet Wine Label Bottle Image

About

In late 2019 the Somos boys knew the days of the Carignan-Cinsault/Mazuelo-Cinsault were drawing to an end. What could replace that delightful, vibrant crunchy wine? They got a lead on a relatively new planting of the Galician red variety Mencía, tucked away in a little valley in the Adelaide Hills. It has been dry-farmed/organically farmed since it was planted and now really starting to show its personality. Ben & Mauricio have nicknamed this wine the ‘The Iberian Lynx’ in order to differentiate it from the previous ‘Lynx’ label.

The fruit was hand-harvested and placed into a number of small picking bin ferments, some with tons of whole-bunches, some without. Some bins were pressed early, and others were left on the skins for a bit longer. Each one was pressed separately and into 2-4th fill Burgundian French oak for close to a year. Trying to follow the canons in Ribeira Sacra where this variety has restraint and poise to the point of the sublime, this is a really delicate, floral, bunchy expression.

Stats

  • Grapes: 100% Mencía
  • Vineyard: Saint-Clar Vineyard – farmed by Jon O'Connell
  • Vine Age: 5-years-old (grafted onto 1998 Sauv Blanc)
  • Soil Type: Red-brown sandy loam with ironstone nodules and a band of yellow clay
  • Viticulture: Practicing organic – dry-farmed
  • Fermentation: Native - stainless steel (75% partial whole cluster for 7 days, 25% full whole cluster carbonic maceration for 21 days)
  • Skin Contact: 7-21 days
  • Aging: 12 months in 3-4 year old French oak
  • Alcohol: 12.5%
  • Residual Sugar: 2.1
  • pH: 3.57
  • Total Acidity: 5.12 g/L
  • Total SO2: 73 ppm
  • Total Production: 416 cases
  • UPC: 9350675000388

Tasting Note

Fresh, bouncy, and just the perfect amount of crispy. Cranberry, pomegranate and maybe those little poisonous holly berries (have you had them?) along with a brambly, peppery sort of thing on the nose. Blood orange notes emerge with a bit of a thyme lemonade note. The palate is refreshing and penetrating with plenty of zing and elevation. The finish has the tiniest amount of tannins and mouthwatering acidity continuing.

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Producer


Somos Wines

Region


Adelaide Hills

Country


Australia

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