Thread: La Mano Mencia Roble

Godzilla Monster wrote:
> The general rule in the Spanish language is that nouns ending in "O" are
> masculine, and those ending in "A" are feminine. But, there are
> exceptions to every rule, albeit not as many as in the Bastard tongue
> which is known as English. Therefore, La Mano ("La" being the feminine
> article) is quite correct.

Not sure about why this preamble was necessary, had somebody tried to
tell you it should be El Mano? :-)

> Last night, I celebrated the onslaught of a cooler spell but making:
> Le filet de porc, casserole a rôti avec Basil, vin rouge. La casserole
> deglaze avec un vin plus rouge. Servi avec le riz basmati et les fleurons
> de broccoli.

Your spanish articles are fine, but your use of the definite article in
français is eccentric... reminds me of the ads for Boursin as they
sponsor drama and crime programmes on UK TV - "Le marriage breaker", "Le
murder weapon", followed of course by the final "Du Pain, Du Vin, Du
Boursin"

> It is only recently that we have begun to see more wines from
> Northwestern Spain, where the Mencia grape is grown.

While we are on the subject of Spanish nitpicking, The MencÃ*a grape
typical of the Duero valley, but also found in Galicia, is pronounced
with the accent on the I - "men-thee-ah" with unvoiced "th" as in "theme".

cheers


--
Mike Tommasi - Six Fours, France
email link http://www.tommasi.org/mymail

On Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:43:59 +0100, Mike Tommasi wrote:

> Godzilla Monster wrote:
>> The general rule in the Spanish language is that nouns ending in "O"
>> are masculine, and those ending in "A" are feminine. But, there are
>> exceptions to every rule, albeit not as many as in the Bastard tongue
>> which is known as English. Therefore, La Mano ("La" being the feminine
>> article) is quite correct.
>
> Not sure about why this preamble was necessary, had somebody tried to
> tell you it should be El Mano? :-)
>
>> Last night, I celebrated the onslaught of a cooler spell but making: Le
>> filet de porc, casserole a rôti avec Basil, vin rouge. La casserole
>> deglaze avec un vin plus rouge. Servi avec le riz basmati et les
>> fleurons de broccoli.
>
> Your spanish articles are fine, but your use of the definite article in
> français is eccentric... reminds me of the ads for Boursin as they
> sponsor drama and crime programmes on UK TV - "Le marriage breaker", "Le
> murder weapon", followed of course by the final "Du Pain, Du Vin, Du
> Boursin"
>
>> It is only recently that we have begun to see more wines from
>> Northwestern Spain, where the Mencia grape is grown.
>
> While we are on the subject of Spanish nitpicking, The MencÃ*a grape
> typical of the Duero valley, but also found in Galicia, is pronounced
> with the accent on the I - "men-thee-ah" with unvoiced "th" as in
> "theme".
>
> cheers

You caught me with my French translating website down. ;-)
I have studied Spanish, but not French. I have yet to figure out why my
favorite Mexican Beer - Negra Modelo does not agree in gender.

It matters not how straight the gate, or how starved with punishment it
may seem --- I would like more of this wine, but am not optimistic.

Godzilla

Godzilla Monster wrote:

> It is only recently that we have begun to see more wines from
> Northwestern Spain, where the Mencia grape is grown. This n/v bottle
> practically leapt out of the bottle with a powerful fruity nose, usually
> the arbiter of a light body. This one however, was syrupy, jammy, and a
> little brambly and spicy to boot. Deep ripe cherries and a little of the
> three month immersion in oak could be detected. The morning after, I feel
> like burying my own proboscis in the remnants of the bottle, the nose
> being so powerful and lingering.

Thanks for this note. I have seen La Mano MencÃ*a (Bierzo) in my local
wine shop, but had shied away as so many Bierzos are overoaked. I had
thought that the bottles I saw were labeled 2006, though. I am also
surprised at your description of it as syrupy and jammy, as MencÃ*a is
most often likened to Cab Franc, to which it may be related.

Mark Lipton

Mike Tommasi wrote:

> While we are on the subject of Spanish nitpicking, The MencÃ*a grape
> typical of the Duero valley, but also found in Galicia, is pronounced
> with the accent on the I - "men-thee-ah" with unvoiced "th" as in "theme".

But this wine is from El Bierzo, which is also planted mostly to MencÃ*a
as I understand it, and is neither in Galicia or the Duero valley,
though it is close to both. Or am I mistaken?

Mark Lipton

Godzilla Monster <[email protected]> wrote in news:252a6$4968f466
$cf9b1009$[email protected]:
>
> You caught me with my French translating website down. ;-)
> I have studied Spanish, but not French. I have yet to figure out why my
> favorite Mexican Beer - Negra Modelo does not agree in gender.

That's easy. "Modelo" is used both for masculin and feminin: "Un modelo"
and "Una modelo".

s.

Mark Lipton <[email protected]> wrote in
news:gkb3ev$f7b$[email protected]:
>
> But this wine is from El Bierzo, which is also planted mostly to
> MencÃ*a as I understand it, and is neither in Galicia or the Duero
> valley, though it is close to both. Or am I mistaken?

You are right: El Bierzo is a region in the Sil Valley. The Sil river runs
East to West and joins the Miño at the West of El Bierzo. River Miño is the
northiest frontier between Spain and Portugal when it reaches the Atlantic
Ocean.

I could be wrong, but I do not think there is Mencía planted in Ribera del
Duero.

I hear your comment that many wines from El Bierzo are overoaked. It was
not true with the first vintages. But the success has led the wineries to
have more cash and they decided to employ the surplus in more new barrels,
when they should have purchased a Porsche Cayenne. I suggest that you look
for the cheaper bottlings, since those do not usually are soaked in the
expensive and toasty new barrels.

BTW, I know that my contributions to this newsgroup are very limited, so I
want to recommend looking for Dominio Dostares "Cumal" 2004 or 2005. Not
mencía and not really from El Bierzo, but a close place, made with the
indigenous grape "Prieto Picudo", formerly used for rosés. It is a bit
overoaked for my tastes, but is has a great personality. Really worth the
effort of finding it.

http://www.dominiodostares.com/web/eng/vino.php?id=10

s.

santiago wrote:

> I hear your comment that many wines from El Bierzo are overoaked. It was
> not true with the first vintages. But the success has led the wineries to
> have more cash and they decided to employ the surplus in more new barrels,
> when they should have purchased a Porsche Cayenne. I suggest that you look
> for the cheaper bottlings, since those do not usually are soaked in the
> expensive and toasty new barrels.

This is, alas, a truism in many regions: the low-priced cuvée is
preferable to the "prestige" bottling which sees 100% new barriques,
etc. Although my experience with wines from El Bierzo is not extensive,
I have heard this same thing from people like "Florida Jim" Cowan (who
you might also know) who really enjoyed the early vintages of the
Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo (amazing, but true) only to find
later ones completely marred by new oak.
>
> BTW, I know that my contributions to this newsgroup are very limited, so I
> want to recommend looking for Dominio Dostares "Cumal" 2004 or 2005. Not
> mencía and not really from El Bierzo, but a close place, made with the
> indigenous grape "Prieto Picudo", formerly used for rosés. It is a bit
> overoaked for my tastes, but is has a great personality. Really worth the
> effort of finding it.
>
> http://www.dominiodostares.com/web/eng/vino.php?id=10

Thanks!

Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton <[email protected]> wrote in
news:gkbuob$g8l$[email protected]:
>
> This is, alas, a truism in many regions: the low-priced cuvée is
> preferable to the "prestige" bottling which sees 100% new barriques,
> etc. Although my experience with wines from El Bierzo is not
> extensive, I have heard this same thing from people like "Florida Jim"
> Cowan (who you might also know) who really enjoyed the early vintages
> of the Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo (amazing, but true) only
> to find later ones completely marred by new oak.

That is surprising to me, because I really like the wines from
Descendientes de J. Palacios. In fact, I have a respect for Álvaro Palacios
because of his use of wood. As you may know, he comes from a saga of
winemakers (Palacios-Remondo now called Herencia-Remondo in Alfaro, La
Rioja) and before arriving at Priorat as one of the 5 pioneers, he worked
as a salesman for a French tonnelier. I have yet to find a wine by Álvaro
Palacios that is overoaked. I have not tasted extensively their upper range
wines, but I do not think that "Pétalos del Bierzo" (the basic cuvée from
sourced grapes) or "Villa de Corullón" display too much oak.

s