Wine of the Week — Spanish Wine Collective

CACHICÁN 2019 - Demencia Wine

D.O. – Vino de España

Varieties – Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, Estaladiña, Grao Negro, Palomino, Doña Blanca.

The word is out that Nacho León has launched CACHICÁN 2019. The story of this natural wine goes back to 2013 when Bruno Arias, former assistant winemaker at Demencia, worked his very first harvest at the winery. Bruno was hired initially in a distribution role, but being a diligent sort, he soon carved a niche for himself on the winemaking side, showing bags of natural talent. As a way of consolidating Bruno's viticultural skills, Nacho got him involved in the making of an experimental wine with grapes sourced from a very old plot near Villafranca del Bierzo.

Being absolutely convinced from the outset that they were not going to make just another mencía, they decided to use all the grapes from this fantastic plot. As is traditional in this part of Spain, the parcela contains a cornucopia of different varieties, in this case, Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, Estaladiña, Grao Negro, Palomino and Doña Blanca.

The grapes were brought in a little earlier than normal and fermentation was carried at low temperature in open 225 litre French oak barrels. The idea behind this was to avoid extraction of excessively astringent, herbacious aromas. During this period the wine was punched down manually every day and after racking, partial malolactic fermentation and five months in French oak, the wine was bottled. Nacho rather delightfully describes the wine as 'fresh and ‘edgy’. I would definitely agree with that, and would add thyme, fennel, hints of violet and bags of dark berries.

In a visit I arranged for two mencía lovers from Montreal in March 2019, Nacho told us that they were effectively paying tribute to generations of Bierzo winemakers, people who had a deep understanding of the land, the climate, and most of all their viñas. By placing firm emphasis on the old maxim that says a truly good wine makes itself, low intervention, the use indigenous/wild yeasts and minimal sulphites, he strives to produce, in his opinion, an altogether healthier wine whose organoleptic qualities are purer and more intense, and hopefully with great cellaring potential.

For those who might be wondering what cachicán means, it’s a colloquial word for a wine harvest chargehand. The idea behind the use of the word, says Nacho, is to pay homage to so many anonymous people over the decades, who, with their toil, managed to sculpt a vineyard that one can feel proud of today. I’ll certainly vote for that!