Almanova Ribeira Sacra Mencia 2023Weve featured this producers white wine before, and now it is time for his delightful red. For those unfamiliar with Ribeira Sacra and or Roberto Flammini (which I am guessing covers everyone in the continental U. S.), I think there are two important waypoints to approaching this wine. Id like you to think of this wine as Ribeira Sacra Red Wine, the place, instead of Mencia, the grape. Mencia is far more well known than Ribeira Sacra or Roberto

edged by crushed stone

The growing season started out relatively cool but continued dry

and unmistakably coastal

baking spice

plus hints of spearmint

Spring is here and along with it comes the joyous return of so many green vegetables – ramps

it finishes clean and thirst-inducing

cubes of apple and cardamom gelee

There’s a rare sort of Anjou Rouge that feels like a secret kept just outside the Loire’s more trafficked circuits — generous in fruit yet lithe in structure

he works with the native white grape of Prié Blanc

elevations and rootstocks

The Willamette Valley saw mild to moderate early to mid-April frosts