RadicanteThere’s a buzz in the Guadalupe Valley of Baja Mexico, thanks to new energy and young talents honing their skills in the warm, rocky terrain of this corner of the country which presents its own unique challenges to grape growing. Oscar Mancillas is the newest member of this small-but-mighty cadre of natural-focused, forward-thinking winemakers.
Born in Tijuana and raised in Ensenada, Oscar was privy to wine from a young age. Ensenada was the home of sherry house Domecq’s first foray into making solera style wines outside of Spain, bringing Palomino and other Spanish grapes to the area. Many of his friends and their families were in the winemaking business, and this proximity planted the first seeds for Oscar’s future. The father of one of his closest friends owned La Escuelita, a cooperative winery space and incubator for many winemakers in the emerging Valle de Guadalupe, and a champion of the region who had extensive knowledge of its vineyards and grapes. In his youth, Oscar thought he might want to be a chef but was persuaded by his family to go to school for engineering. Those studies didn’t last long, and Oscar eventually dropped out of college. Needing a job, he found work via his friends at a local wine store. It was here that his journey into wine really began. As his interest deepened, he was able to move over to La Escuelita to work in the vines, quickly becoming a manager of several vineyards throughout Baja and Southern California. He did end up going back to college, but his love of wine proved impossible to shake and led him to obtaining a master’s degree in agronomy at the prestigious Universitat Rovia I Virgili in Tarragona, Spain, followed by an internship at the venerable Raventos i Blanc in the Penedès. Oscar felt a connection to the Catalan countryside, eventually moving up the coast to the Roussillon and taking a position to manage 60 hectares of vines and 2 wineries. It was here where he fell in love with natural wine, after a beautiful local Carignan sparked his interest in the budding natural scene in the region. He became a regular at the local natural wine bar in Perpignan, becoming best friends with another regular and winemaker - Raph Baissas - and the owners of the bar. Many long nights were spent tasting, talking, and hatching plans. After one particularly revelatory evening, Raph & Oscar had a harebrained idea – maybe they should start a project together, as their philosophies on winemaking were closely aligned. Thus was born Domaine Nada, where they worked together farming and making wine, and it was here that the first Radicante wines were made. Radicante translates to “creating and putting down roots.” For Oscar, those Radicante roots were originally planted in France, and he even opened a short-lived taqueria in Perpignan. His time at Domaine Nada proved to be short-lived - although a best friend was made in Raph, the two ultimately decided the project was too small to support both as full time winemakers. While searching for his next gig, Oscar was convinced by his friend Noel Tellez, winemaker of Bichi wines, to return home and help Noel energize a more minimal style of winemaking in Mexico. Oscar heeded this advice and returned to the Valle for the 2023 vintage, and his old friends even offered to sell him grapes for his first Mexican vintage of Radicante. Oscar is now managing several different vineyards and has taken over as director of the La Escuelita cooperative, a place he holds near and dear to his heart. Spending time with him you quickly learn that he is a visionary winemaker, always thinking deeply on how he can make balanced natural wines in an area where extreme heat can wreak havoc on a vintage, and how he can enrich this area with his passion and expertise. He’s turned La Escuelita back into a learning center and is supporting young projects by providing them equipment and space. Oscar is in the process of building a small urban winery in downtown Ensenada in a space that was once his grandparents’ grocery store and home. He’s planting several vines on his family ranch, grapes like Garnacha Blanca and Negra, Colombard, and perhaps even Xarel-lo. A true visionary, we couldn’t be more excited to have Oscar Mancillas planting his Radicante roots back in Ensenada and the Valle de Guadalupe. The WinesBrisado is 100% Colombard from the 70-year-old El Porvenir Ejido vineyard in Valle de Guadalupe, 350m above sea level and rooted in decomposed granite. The grapes are hand harvested, then fermented whole cluster in stainless steel for 7 days. The wine is pressed and aged in a 500 liter barrel for 5 months before bottling unfined, unfiltered, with a small addition of SO2.
Todos Contentos Gris de Gris is Colombard with a bit of Rosa del Peru From two 50-70-year-old parcels in Tecate and Valle de Guadalupe: Rancho San Lorenzo vineyard (350m) and Ejido el Porvenir (500m). Both the Rosa del Peru and Colombard are hand-harvested and fermented separately. The Rosa del Peru undergoes fermentation via the infusion method for 10 days: 70% percent is direct pressed, 30% gets submerged whole bunch into the direct pressed juice. The Colombard is fermented whole cluster for 10 days in stainless steel. Both are then blended and aged for 5 months in stainless steel and finally bottled with a small addition of SO2. Todos Contentos Rosado is mostly Merlot and Malbec with a bit of Mourvèdre from the Villareal vineyard in Ejido El Porvenir, plus 15% centenarian Rosa del Peru from the San Lorenzo vineyard in Tecate, all grown on granitic soils. Merlot, Malbec and Mourvèdre were harvested the same day, directly pressed and co-fermented and aged in stainless steel. Rosa del Perú was harvested a few weeks before, 70% directly pressed and the rest of the harvest was submerged whole cluster in this juice for one week. After, the clusters were pressed and blended again with the rest of the must, fermented and aged in stainless steel. Everything was blended together before bottling unfined & unfiltered, with a small addition of 15mg/l SO2. Todos Contentos Tinto is Grenache & Rosa del Peru from the 50-70-year-old Rancho San Lorenzo vineyard in Tecate, situated 350 meters above sea level and planted in sandy, alluvial soils. Hand harvested and fermented whole cluster in stainless steel vats. The wine is pressed after 10 days of maceration and aged for 5 months in stainless steel. Bottled unfined, unfiltered, with a small addition of SO2. Radicante Tinto is 100% Grenache from a 50-year-old vineyard rooted in sandy soil. The grapes are hand-harvested and fermented whole cluster for 15 days in stainless steel tanks. The wine is pressed and then aged in the same tanks for 8 months. Bottled unfined, unfiltered with a small addition of SO2. Entreolivos is Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah sourced from Bichi’s winery and vineyard in Tecate, with vines ranging from 15-50-years-old and 350-500m above sea level. The grapes are hand-harvested and cofermented whole cluster in stainless steel tanks for 15 days. The wine is then pressed and aged in 500-liter neutral barrels for 8 months. Bottled unfined, unfiltered with a small addition of SO2. |
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