Pizarras de Otero Bierzo, Spain 2013 (£9.99, or £6.66 if you buy two bottles, Majestic) It’s rare for a grape variety to break through to the mainstream as rapidly as Spanish red grape mencía has. Just five years ago it was hard to find any at all in the UK. Now most retailers stock at least one example. Bierzo, just across the border from Galicia, is where it’s most widely planted, with Galician winemaking co-operative Martín Códax – better known for their textbook, sea-fresh Rías Baixas albariño whites – here conjuring up one of the best-value examples of the variety in its light and juicy easy-drinking mode: all crunchy berry fruit and floral freshness.
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