Val do Galir Mencía 2023

Val do Galir Mencía is made by Virgen del Galir in the D.O. Valdeorras in Galicia, a young winery set on the edge of the Camino de Santiago. The estate works twenty recovered micro plots of slate and granite soils lying above 600 metres, where the altitude and the cool, damp Atlantic influence of inland Galicia give wines of real freshness and minerality. Mencía from these high slopes keeps its acidity and a bright aromatic character that warmer sites lose. The slate forces the vine to root deep and lends the wine a stony, graphite edge, while the granite adds lift and finesse. The wine ages ten months in French and American oak, the slow oxygen exchange softening the tannins and adding a light spice without burying the fruit. The colour is a bright cherry red with violet glints. The nose shows fresh raspberry and cherry over crushed stone, with pepper and a touch of vanilla from the oak. The palate is medium bodied and fresh, the tannins fine, the acidity keeping the savoury, mineral finish long. Serve at 16 degrees. It suits grilled meat and mushrooms.