José Manuel Rodríguez is the head of the growers’ association and regulatory agency of Ribeira Sacra and makes one of the finest examples of Mencía hail from very steep vineyards overlooking the Sil River in the village of Amandi.
The unique, rich, pomegranate-like fruit-driven Décima Mencía (with 10% Garnacha Tintorera) is underpinned by a graphite-like slate minerality that comes from the precipitously steep pizarra terraces on which Décima’s vineyards grow. The vineyards are owned and farmed by José Manuel Rodríguez, who in addition to farming his own vines, is also the President of the Consello Regulador de La Ribeira Sacra. This wine is reminiscent in style and quality, if not in Pinot Noir flavors, of a wine from Burgundy’s northern Cótes de Nuite.