Mencia and Prieto Picudo: wines from Bierzo and León

On Monday, January 25th I was one of the visitors at the tasting of Spanish wines from Castilla y León. Frankly, I talked more with old and new acquaintances than I tasted wines. Fortunately, it is often more interesting to get to know one or two producers extensively than it is to visit all the tables and try all the wines. And that is what I did.

I would like to pay attention to two producers, who struck me by their interesting wines, both from the Bierzo region. Bierzo is in the far north of Spain, not far from Santiago de Compostella.

Mengoba
Bodega & Viñedos Mengoba was represented by the young owner Gregory Perez. Mengoba had an excellent white wine, Godello, three wines from Prieto Picudo (two red, one rosé) and a wine of the grape variety Mencia. That’s what I like: wineries that focus on native grape varieties, especially if the wines are good. During the tasting I already heard from several people that they were interested in Mengoba, and I am curious if there is indeed a Dutch importer by now.
Mencia is an upcoming grape variety, and delivers robust red wines with a fine acidic and tannic structure.

What also struck me was that I came across prieto picudo again. I had never heard of it, and then stumbled upon it two times in a row – here and on Wine Professional. In the time between these two events, I have not found out a lot more information on prieto picudo. The grape grows mainly in León, delivers pleasant, fruity and easily drinkable wines with good tannins and structure and may well be used for rosé. In the past, prieto picudo was made primarily into wine for local consumption. Now, however, indigenous and local grapes are ‘hot’ and the wine is also made for export. In total, at most 500 hectares are planted with prieto pricudo. The wines are labeled as DO Tierra de León at Mengoba.
Make sure to have a look also at the website of Mengoba, with a magnificent panorama of the vineyards.

Tilenus
The other producer I was very impressed by, was Bodegas Estefanía Tilenus. They were represented by Eva Blanco and are located in Ponferrada, close by Mengoba.
Tilenus works mainly with the mencia and prieto picudo grapes. Part of the vineyards consist of old to very old (100 years!) vines, which are pruned as a shrub (gobelet, bush vines). All the wines of mencia – Tilenus Roble, Crianza and the Pagos Posada – and that of prieto picudo – Clan – were very impressive. The Mencia’s had firm tannins and high acidity, and are generally fresh and pleasant to drink (what they really like is a piece of meat or game to go with it…). The Prieto Picudo appears to do well in wood: the Clan had rested for 15 months in French oak barriques, and tasted very refined.
The Prieto Picudo is marketed as Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León, one step lower on the hierarchical ladder than a DO. But that does not go for the quality of the wine: that is very good!
The website of this company also offers much information.

And let’s hope that among the importers present someone has decided to bring these wines to the Netherlands.

Photo: Working the vineyards at Mengoba.