James Suckling (95/100)
This is peppery and transparent, with freshness and a velvety profile that is very attractive. polished and almost ethereal. This is pure mencia from the Carballocobo vineyard.
Guía Peñin (94/100)
R. Parker (94/100)
Carballocobo is a plot of Mencía that provided most of the grapes for their Pizarra bottling, and it's now bottled on its own to reflect the character of the place. The 2021 Carballocobo (the wine was first produced almost a decade ago) is a varietal Mencía from slate soils, one of the first vineyards they planted in the 1980s, with some parts planted more recently. The whole clusters were foot trodden in a troncoconic oak vat with some destemmed grapes and matured in a 2,500-liter oak foudre for 23 months. It has a meaty nose, more Rhône than other wines, with a meaty and smoky note and some flowers, with good complexity, and it has a fine-boned palate with elegant tannins that give it a beautiful texture. It has 13% alcohol and good balance and freshness. 1,010 bottles produced.