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California Wine Atlas

Mencia

Red wine grape · reported 2023–2025

Further reading: VIVC catalog entry

Mencía is a red grape central to Spain's Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra regions, recently confirmed by DNA analysis to be a cross of Alfrocheiro and Patorra. It is a brand-new entrant to California's CDFA reports, appearing in the crush series only since 2023 and already spread across nine districts, though no bearing acreage has yet been recorded. Volumes remain small — 47.4 tons crushed statewide in 2025 — but prices have run comparatively high, between about $1,300 and $4,463 a ton, suggesting growers are treating it as a small-lot planting rather than a bulk variety.

What kind of grape this is

Species
VITIS VINIFERA LINNÉ SUBSP. SATIVA (DE CANDOLLE) HEGI
Berry color
NOIR
Country of origin
SPAIN
Parentage
ALFROCHEIRO×PATORRA

confirmed by DNA markers

Synonyms
19

names this grape is known by elsewhere, per VIVC

FPS selections
2

distinct clones and selections held at UC Davis

Registries

What is published

Counts describe what this atlas holds for Mencia, not what California grows. A zero is a published answer: it means the source names the grape and reports nothing under it, or does not name it at all.

0

county-years of acreage

the Grape Acreage Report has never named it in a county table

23

district-years of crush

9 of 17 crush districts, 3 crop years

23

district-years of Brix

tonnage-weighted at the crusher, Crush Report Table 3

1

producer in this atlas

producers whose curated wine list names it — a curated roster of 2,772 producers, not a census of California

—

regions with a maturity date

not one of the eight cultivars with a

Tonnage and price by district

Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA

All 9 districts on one axis →

loading crush report…

Brix at the crusher

Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA

loading must chemistry…

Growers in this atlas's roster

1 of this atlas’s 2772 curated producers, 1 of them with a named wine in the atlas made from it. A roster is not a census — this is who the atlas has entered, not who grows the grape in California.