Cabanelas Mencía 2016

The 2016 Cabanelas, from an old vineyard of the same, name feels like a completely different wine from the past vintages, when the oak was too intrusive. The fresher 2016 vintage has delivered a fresher wine that has integrated the oak in a completely different way. It comes through as serious and powerful. It matured in used 225-liter oak barrels for 12 months. The tannins are finer and the palate more balanced. A huge improvement. 900 bottles were filled in December 2017. -Luis Gutiérrez. 

Ripe and dense with blueberries, white pepper and hints of slate. I like the roundness and richness and the fresh, linear flow through the center palate. So much pepper at the end. Drink or hold.