About the Producer
Luna Beberide was founded in 1988 and now resides with the second generation, Alejandro Luna Beberide. Alejandro has over 50 hectares of vineyards, devoted to growing the indigenous grape varieties Mencía and Godello. Luna Beberide’s vineyards are planted on slopes along terraced hillsides at high altitudes of 700 to 900 metres, with vines aged from 20 to well over 80 years old. Alejandro’s aim is to pay respect to the terroir with every step of the process; he has adopted a ‘less is more’, minimal intervention approach to winemaking to allow full, free expressions of each variety. The winemaking involves 500-litre French oak barriques and large oak foudres; there is no new oak. For a number of years, he worked alongside winemaker Mariano García, former winemaker at Vega Sicilia, for production of his red wines. Bierzo, to the northwest of the province of Léon, lies to the north of Portugal – it is a halfway point between Castilla and Galicia. It is a mountainous region that consists of many small valleys in Alto Bierzo and a rather flatter plain in Bajo Bierzo. Unsurprisingly, it is old vines invariably planted on schistous soils on the hillside vineyards that deliver the most interesting, highest quality wines. The region boasts many established vineyards with old vines – with the dominant variety being Mencia, known as Jaen in Portugal. For a long time, Mencia was believed to be an old clone of Cabernet Franc, but this has been dispelled by DNA analysis. It is true to say that the variety expresses a similar array of characters, juicy berry fruit, hints of spice, sometimes a little herbal, leafiness too. It carries its weight well on account of the brightness of the acidity that is inherent in the variety, but it is a distinct variety.
