Dominio do Bibei Mencia Lalama Ribeira Sacra 2020

Description

Since his first vintage in 2001, Javier Dominguez’s Dominio do Bibei has been widely acknowledged as the driving force behind the emergence of quality wines in Spain’s historic Ribeira Sacra. His family bought land in the Bibei valley, Ribeira’s most easterly sub-region, and today they own a 140 hectare estate, of which 45 hectares are planted to vines. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to revive the region and its indigenous vines, undertaking what is known locally as ‘heroic viticulture’. There are far easier places to make wine than in Ribeira Sacra with its steep slopes, but Javier Dominguez, along with his consultant winemakers, Priorat’s Sara Pérez and René Barbier, are united in a common belief in this spectacular landscape, its ancient character and, most of all, its capacity to produce Spain’s most distinctive wines.

'90% Mencía and 10% a field blend of Brancellao, Mouratón, Sousón and Garnacha, all grown on slate, granite and clay. Aged in old French oak. Mid garnet. Very lively – that great blend of sweet fruit of Mencía with the minerally impact and freshness of the terroir. Really serious, distinctive wine that could only come from this strange, 'heroic' valley in Galicia. Long, too. After the sweetness there's a peppery note. This is a future wine, real wine quality not dancing to an established drum. Really good!' 17pts, Jancis Robinson MW