Oliver’s Taranga Mencia 2023
- 91
- $35
- Drink by: 2024-2026
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A long way from its Spanish home, but seemingly perfectly happy, this is a wine definitely worth seeking out. The team grafted Mencia on to old Cabernet vines and they have thrived. Crimson/magenta in colour, this is a broader style of red. Florals, roasted meats, tobacco leaves, chocolate and leather. A supple and slippery texture with sleek tannins and persistence. This is an attractive wine with lingering finish. Enjoy it now, or cellar it for a couple of years.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
