Abad Dom Bueno Bierzo 2021
Price: $16.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: Bodega del Abad
Country: Spain
Region: León
Appellation: Bierzo DO
Grapes: Mencia
Alcohol by Volume: 13.5%
Sugar Content: 2 grams per litre
Wine nerds love the Mencia grape because it’s contradictory. An iron fist in a velvet glove it comes on gently and elegantly until one realizes that there is a powerful fruit character. My proble with it is that I often get confused about the name of the grape and the part of the world, in Northwest Spain’s Galicia region, that it’s mostly grown in, Bierzo. As I wrote in a June review of this Mencia’s sister wine, the Abad Dom Bueno Godello 2022:
The Bierzo wine region has a similarly catchy name: it’s distinct and pronounceably friendly for English speakers. What gets confusing is that its principal red wine grape, Mencia, is equally distinct and pronounceably friendly for English speakers. I have to really think about which is the name of the grape and which is the name of region.
Anyway, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and there is definitely a floral character the the 2023 Abad Dom Bueno Mencia, though more in the vein of violets. That’s on top of blackberry, blueberry and a black tea character. There’s a lot going, and yet it retains a fresh food friendly acidity.
It tastes like a light red wine, except it’s not. I don’t know either, but it’s $17 and shows the complexity of a wine priced at twice that, and worth trying.
It wants simply grilled meats or vegetables. Let the wine be the sauce.