Gregory Perez Mengoba Las Tinajas 2016
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Robert
Parker
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The orange wine 2016 Mengoba las Tinajas has more of a golden color and a captivating nose of quince paste and white pepper. It's produced with Godello from Bierzo, but the style of wine is not approved by the appellation of origin and therefore sold as a generic Vino Blanco. The destemmed grapes are left whole and placed in four 500-liter terracotta tinajas (amphorae), where the wine fermented and was kept in contact with the skins for ten months. Skin contact can be overdone, but that's not the case here, where the varietal character is still noticeable and the palate is very tasty but not that tannic. This vintage feels very lively and fresh in the palate. I really liked this very much; it's among my favorite wines of this style in Spain. 1,100 bottles were filled in November 2017
Grégory Pérez is a terroir-focused winemaker seen as one of the most forward-thinking winemakers in Spain according to his peers.
As a Bordeaux native, Gregory Pérez’s career launched with Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, and he also worked at Château Cos d’Estournel during and after his studies at the Bordeaux-Blanquefort School of Enology and Viticulture between 1997 and 2000.
Pérez went to Bierzo in Spain on the advice of his friend where he worked for several years before establishing Mengoba in 2007. He also established a second label, Brezo, for the wines he makes as a negociant, still guided by the same principles of amplifying terroir, biodiversity, and traditional winemaking.
The steeply sloped vineyards are situated at the head of River Cúa in the town of Espanillo ranging 600 to 850 meters above sea level. Pérez deeply committed to the treatment of vineyards based on holistic and ethical principles. He only grows native varietals that evolved to grow on the various soils of his vineyard plots and uses the native yeasts that come out of those plots.
The clay and decomposed slate soils are plowed, dug up, piled and aerated to enhance the health and biodiversity of the earth. He also strictly limits the use of fertilizers, though exclusively organic, and never uses herbicides. Pérez has a strong belief in protecting the biodiversity of his land. The presence of various bees and surrounding vegetation are a testament to the viability of the vineyards’ ecosystems.
The winery is in San Juan de Carracedo near the Monastery of Saint Mary of Carracedo, a semi-restored twelfth century monastery near the Camino de Santiago. Pérez’s cellar contains a mix of steel tanks, foudres, and French oak barrels. His goal is to great a wine that is authentic. To this end, he vinifies in a non-interventionist manner that allows the origin to shine through.
Godello is native to northwest Spain and has experienced a major revival in the last 20 years. Godello wines are typically sleek and lightly creamy in texture. Barrel fermentation and lees stirring are typical in Valdeorras, Spain where the grape comes from. These winemaking techniques make the most of Godello's inherent structure and help bring out its lovely floral character. Somm Secret—DNA profiling says that Spain’s Godello is actually identical to the Portugese grape variety Gouveio, which grows throughout the Douro and Dão (where it used to mistakenly be called Verdelho).
One of the few northwestern Spanish regions with a focus on a red variety, Bierzo, part of Castilla y León, is home to the flowery and fruity Mencia grape. Mencia produces balanced and bright red wines full of strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate, baking spice, pepper and black licorice. The well-drained soils of Bierzo are slate and granite.