Dominio do Bibei Lalama Tinto Ribeira Sacra 2019

If you are looking for a treat yourself or for the wine lover in your life, here is a Spanish red that will surprise and please in equal measure.

This full bodied wine has the dark fruit flavours of a Mediterranean wine but is beautifully balanced by the naturally high acidity of the Mencia grape, which provides a sense of freshness to the wine. This fascinating blend of five grapes is mostly Mencia which makes up 90% of the wine with the remaining grapes being Brancellao, Mouton, Souson and Garnacha Tintorera. The wine was aged for 12 months in old French oak barrels.

Spain is known for its wealth of old vines, mostly grown en vaso (in the shape of a vase) and low to the ground to keep them anchored since there is no trellis they can rely on for support.

These sturdy vines have hefty trunks and, impressively, produce grapes even when they are 100 years of age and older. The fruit tends to taste extremely concentrated and is not exactly plentiful on these old vines, which can yield as low as one to 1.5 kgs of grapes per vine but the results are worth retaining these beautiful, noble and commanding old plants.