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This is just the second release of Swinney’s Mencía, and as was the case last year, we have very little. For now, there is just one row of vertically trellised Mencía vines in the north-facing part of the Powderbark vineyard, meaning Rob Mann can make just one hogshead a year. Plans are in the works for a new plot of staked vines on the highest, southeastern part of the same vineyard, but that’s a story for another day.
The fruit was handpicked and gravity-fed to a single 600-litre open-top demi-muid. Mann favours 100% whole bunches for this wine, finding immense pleasure and intrigue in the resulting depth, structure, heightened spice and “almost curry leaf reduction”. And though he admits the style may be confronting, he’s resolute. Who are we to disagree? The wine spent 10 days on skins before it was pressed to an old, 300-litre French hogshead. It was then aged for 11 months before bottling.
It’s no secret that Mann has an affinity for the high-altitude, granite-fuelled wines of northwest Spain and though similarities can be drawn, Swinney’s Mencía has an x-factor of its own. Emboldened by the warmer conditions in 2022, the wine has another level of depth and potency when compared to the 2021, which was born from a cooler year.
It’s a wonderfully perfumed release, flush with berry fruits, summer florals and earthy brown spices. The palate is juicy, ripe and fleshy with perfectly pitched sweet and savoury balance carried on cranberry acidity and chalky tannins. The finish is long and quite mineral—it’s a beautifully crafted Mencía, a wine of intrigue and intellect.