2023 Vitícola Mentridana El Mentridano
How does this wine taste?
How full and heavy the wine feels in your mouth, like the difference between skimmed milk and cream. More alcohol, sugar and oak ageing make a wine fuller.
The drying, grippy feel on your gums and tongue, as with strong tea. It comes from the skins and seeds of black grapes and from oak, and softens with age.
How much sugar you taste, from dry to sweet. Fruity is not the same as sweet: a dry wine can taste of ripe fruit.
How fresh and juicy the wine is: acidity makes your mouth water. High acidity tastes lively and refreshing, low acidity soft and round.
What we taste What you taste Click a taste for what it means
The bars follow how sommeliers taste (WSET): body, tannin, sweetness and acidity, each from low to high.
Body: full-bodied. From Grenache; 14% alcohol.
Tannin: medium. From Grenache; aged in oak.
Sweetness. Red wine from is almost always dry.
Acidity: low. From Grenache.
Aromas: dark fruit, spice and red fruit, typical of Grenache
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Log inEl Mentridano 2023 shows what Garnacha from Sierra de Gredos can be: light, refined, and full of tension. Old vines on granite and a relatively cool year result in a wine that does not revolve around power, but around precision, freshness, and a strikingly pure character with great drinkability.
Winery
Vitícola Mentridana is the project of Dani Landi and Curro Bareño, two names that play a key role in the rediscovery of Garnacha from Sierra de Gredos. While Landi previously gained fame with Comando G, this project focuses entirely on the southern side of Gredos, around Méntrida. Here, they work with old vineyards that had been neglected for years. The focus is on pure, terroir-driven wines with minimal intervention. You can find more background information about the estate in the Winery tab.
Origin and terroir
The wine comes from Méntrida, southwest of Madrid, at the foot of the Sierra de Gredos. The vineyards are situated at altitudes of around 600 meters and higher, on poor sandy and granite soils. This terroir ensures good drainage and low yields. Despite the southern exposure, the altitude provides cooling, allowing the wines to retain their freshness. As a result, the style is remarkably light and elegant for Garnacha.
Grapes and vinification
El Mentridano is made from 100% Garnacha, sourced from old vines. The grapes are harvested by hand and fermented entirely with whole clusters, without destemming. Fermentation takes place with natural yeasts and a relatively short maceration to preserve the fruit and finesse. Subsequently, the wine ages for approximately 10 months in large wooden barrels and foudres, ensuring minimal wood influence and allowing the character of the grape and the terroir to remain central.
Style and taste profile
In the glass, the wine is strikingly light in color, almost transparent ruby red. The aroma is refined and open, with notes of fresh red cherry, wild strawberry, and subtle floral tones, complemented by spicy hints and a light earthy touch. On the palate, it is very elegant and juicy, with lively acidity and a soft, almost silky texture. The tannins are fine and delicate. The whole feels light and precise, with a mineral undertone and a long, fresh finish.
Food and wine pairings
Thanks to its light and fresh style, this wine is versatile. It pairs well with charcuterie, grilled vegetables, poultry, or lamb. It also comes into its own with tomato-based pastas or a lighter lasagna. Serving it slightly chilled enhances its fresh character and makes it particularly suitable for informal moments or dishes with a Mediterranean twist.
Why this wine stands out
El Mentridano demonstrates how Garnacha from Gredos distinguishes itself from warmer, more powerful styles. Here, it is all about finesse, balance, and drinkability. The relatively cooler 2023 vintage provides extra freshness and a more ethereal style, with less emphasis on ripeness and more on precision and elegance.
Short summary
Light ruby-red Garnacha with aromas of red cherry, floral notes, and subtle spices. Elegant, fresh, and mineral with soft tannins and a long, refined finish. A pure and light-footed expression of Sierra de Gredos.
Character
The wine
- 100%
Origin
Bottle
Wine features
Parker
The Wine Advocate RP 92+
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
Drink Date: 2024 - 2029
The pale and ethereal 2023 El Mentridano has an herbal freshness (fig leaves), bright red fruit and floral aromas and a much more balanced palate and finer tannins. This is the effect of the cooler (or less warm) year, as they did similar vinification: 100% full clusters (they do not have a destemmer) fermented in oak vats with indigenous yeasts with a short maceration (to keep the fruit) and matured in those large vats (10,000 liters) and some foudres for around 10 months. It has contained ripeness and lower alcohol (14%) but especially great balance. 20,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2024.
There's a new white from Vitícola Mentridana in 2023 produced with 10-year-old Garnacha Blanca from Méntrida. I tasted wines from 2022 and 2023, two warm years, but 2023 was a shorter summer (less accumulated days of high temperatures but high spikes). At El Real de San Vicente, they had a little rain before both harvest, but in Méntrida, it only rained in 2023. The 2023s are pale, less concentrated, more ethereal wines despite the longer macerations, and they have a little lower alcohol. They are in the process of certifying their 15 hectares of vineyards, 50% in Méntrida and the other half in El Real de San Vicente, but they purchase the white grapes from a vineyard they work on behalf of the owner.
Published: Nov 21, 2024
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The Sierra de Gredos is an area of rugged granite peaks, forests and hilltop towns southwest of Madrid. The combination of high altitude, free draining granitic soils, and a long growing season gives it a unique micro-climate. Vines cling to scree-slopes like mountain goats, many of these sites were abandoned decades ago, but a new generation of growers is rediscovering them.
Dani Landi was one of the pioneers working with the old vines here, making elegant, mineral wines, that are redefining what was previously viewed as a workhorse variety into something that can rival the elegance and finesse of some of the world’s most sought after reds. Curro Barreño, one half of brilliant Ribeira Sacra project Fedellos, also grew up in this area. He’s a childhood friend of Dani, sharing many bottles together and winemaking influences. Since 2021 Curro has taken over responsibility for Dani’s vineyards in Méntrida, and is making wines under the Vitícola Mentridana label. Curro’s building on Dani’s meticulous foundations, interpreting the vineyards, and working with a light touch in the winery. Curro is happy to have come home to make wine in the area where he grew up, and to see the evolution of wines in the area which are becoming modern classics, graceful wines we love to drink.
El Mentridano 2023 toont frisse rode kersen, wilde aardbei, florale tonen en een lichte kruidigheid met fijne, zijdeachtige tannines en een mineralige, verfrissende zuurgraad. Daardoor sluit hij uitstekend aan bij charcuterie, gegrild gevogelte, lamsvlees en tomaatgerichte pasta of pizza: de levendige zuren snijden door het vet en de zachte tannines ondersteunen zowel delicate als licht geroosterde smaken zonder te overheersen. Extra geslaagd wordt de combinatie bij langzaam gegaard lamsvlees met mediterrane kruiden, gegrilde groenten of licht gegrilde kip en tomatensauzen, en serveer de wijn licht gekoeld om zijn frisheid en finesse te benadrukken.
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