Grapes of Spain

Luna Beberide MM Mencia

"This is always a champion in its category...Ideal for the table." —

Luis Gutiérrez, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Appellation

Bierzo D.O.

Grape(s)

100% Mencia, from estate gown vines averaging 30-years-old

Altitude/Soil

725-775 meters / calcareous clay

Farming Methods

Practicing organic, Vegan

Harvest

Hand harvested into small boxes; Late September/ early October

Production

Fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks

Aging

Aged for a few months in stainless steel tanks prior to bottling, no oak.

Wine Name

Scores

Downloads

Reviews

Luna Beberide MM Mencia 2020

92 (VfC) 89 (WE)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
92	View from the Cellar	The 2020 Mencía bottling from Bodegas Luna Beberide comes in again at 13.5 percent octane this year, the same as was the case with the lovely 2019 version. Readers may recall that this wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts and raised entirely in stainless steel, with the vines ranging from thirty to forty-plus years of age. The 2020 version is again just a touch reductive when first opened (as was the 2019), but a bit of swirling in the glass allows it to open up nicely to reveal scents of sweet dark berries, pomegranate, coffee bean, a lovely base of dark soil tones, graphite and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and vibrant, with lovely, sappy mid-palate depth, good soil signature, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. This is excellent juice and a stunning value at $19 per bottle here in the US! 2026-2055. John Gilman – Issue 98 March/April 2022
89	Wine Enthusiast	The color of blueberry pie, this wine has aromas of cassis, cherry and tomato leaf. It offers a mélange of savory and fruit flavors, including raspberry, pomegranate, dried Mediterranean herbs and clove. It starts off bright and then grippy tannins make their presence known before washing away into a cranberry-tinged finish. Mike Desimone - August/September 2022 Issue

Copy All Reviews

Luna Beberide MM Mencia 2021

92 (VfC) 91+ (RP) 90 (OB) 89 (WRO)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
92	View from the Cellar	The 2021 Mencía Luna Beberide arrived just before I finished up this article, and it was a most welcome late arrival to the remaining pile of Spanish wine samples. The wine is a touch cooler in profile than the fine 2020 version, tipping the scales at thirteen percent alcohol and delivering a beautifully refined bouquet of cassis, pomegranate, lead pencil, a complex foundation of soil elements, hints of tree bark and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and beautifully soil-driven, with a superb core of fruit, tangy acids, fine focus and balance, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex finish. This is more tightly-knit than the 2020 version was out of the blocks, but every bit as high in quality and once again, a superb value. 2028-2055. John Gilman – Issue 98 March/April 2022
91+	The Wine Advocate	The young red 2021 Mencía is juicy and explosive, floral and showy, produced with the grapes from the valley on clay soils with less stones that express very clearly what the variety is. It doesn't have great complexity, but it's delicious, pleasant, varietal and easy to drink. It fermented in stainless steel tanks without adding any type of yeast. The maceration is short, and so is the aging in tank. It's only 12.9% alcohol and has very good acidity. 125,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in December 2021. 2022-2025 Luis Gutiérrez – January 2022
90	OwenBargreen.com	The really good ‘M’ offers juicy strawberry and red cherry notes alongside tiled soils on the palate. Fresh and inviting, with loads of lively acidity, enjoy now. Drink 2023-2029- Owen Bargreen - October, 2023
89	Wine Review Online	If the Mencía grape variety is new to you, you’ll need to change that, and this wine provides an excellent place to start. The variety has been essentially landlocked for centuries, and has only recently entered the flow of global wine commerce, but it can make indisputably wonderful wines in a fairly broad range of styles. This is a very fresh and simple rendition made from fruit that’s barely been off the vines for half a year. Uncomplicated by oak, it is juicy and bright, with red berry notes predominating on the palate, with energetic acidity driving the finish. Michael Franz – April 5, 2022

Copy All Reviews

Luna Beberide MM Mencia 2022

92 (VfC) 91 (RP)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
92	View from the Cellar	The 2022 Mencía bottling from Luna Beberide is composed from vines that are all at least forty years of age, planted in a combination of clay and slate. The wine is beautifully expressive already on the nose, wafting from the glass in a mix of dark berries, pomegranate, tree bark, coffee bean, dark soil tones and a topnote of cigar smoke. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and sappy at the core, with fine soil signature and grip, ripe, buried tannins, fine focus and a long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. This is already quite tasty, but will be even better if given a handful of years in the cellar to allow its tannins to soften up a bit more and its secondary layers of complexity to emerge. As always, first class juice and a stellar bargain! 2023-2055+. John Gilman - Issue #105 May/June 2023.
91	The Wine Advocate	The young unoaked red 2022 Mencía is juicy and fruit-driven with floral and herbal notes, good ripeness, 13% alcohol, very fine tannins and a soft mouthfeel. It fermented in stainless steel vats with indigenous yeasts, where it matured until bottling. 90,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2023. The Luna Beberide family has been producing modern Bierzo wines since 1988. They work over 50 hectares of vineyards and bottle around 150,000 bottles per year. Paixar was one of the first icons from Bierzo. Luis Gutierrez – The Wine Advocate August 10, 2023

Copy All Reviews

Luna Beberide MM Mencia 2024

93 (WRO) 92 (VfC)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
93	Wine Review Online	Starting with its gorgeous, deeply-pigmented color, continuing to its wonderfully pure flavors, then proceeding to its virtually perfect balance between juicy, dark cherry fruit and freshening acidity, and culminating in a finish that retains all of the wine’s charms as they tail off slowly and symmetrically, this is among the best young, un-oaked renditions of Mencía that I’ve ever tasted (and I’ve tasted LOTS of them—both in the USA and during three trips to the region). I know the foregoing was a “run-on sentence,” but the grammarians who read it disapprovingly should taste the wine and then see if enthusiasm doesn’t carry them to extreme lengths as well. I’ve been maintaining (in published reviews) for 25+ years that Mencía is among the world’s most under-rated varieties, as it can make marvelous wines when made in an ultra-simple way like this one, but can also achieve remarkable complexity when sourced from old, head-pruned vines grown at high elevations and treated to lots of new, fancy French oak. A relatively un-adorned example such as this proves the point even more effectively than the expensive, “high expression” bottlings, and you should absolutely try this wine if you encounter a bottle. Offering pure pleasure already but still capable of becoming more complex with a few more years in bottle, this is just terrific. Wine Review Online; Michael Franz; August 13, 2025.
92	View from the Cellar	The 2024 Mencía “MM” bottling from Luna Beberide is excellent and once again, a stunning value. The bouquet is deep, bright and complex, hopping from the glass in a mix of sweet dark berries, tree bark, woodsmoke, dark soil tones, a touch of pepper and a gentle potpourri of Mencía botanicals in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a lovely core of fruit, excellent soil signature and grip, good acids and a long, beautifully balanced and moderately tannic finish. This is Luna Beberide’s entry level bottling of Mencía, made from thirty year-old vines, raised entirely in stainless steel and tipping the scales at a svelte thirteen percent octane in the 2024 vintage. Fine juice. 2030-2065+. John Gilman, Issue 117, May– June 2025

Copy All Reviews

Share this wine

Rate this wine

Have you tasted this wine?
Feel free to add your notes and rating.

© Copyright 2017 Grapes of Spain.
All Rights Reserved