Mencia
Our first release of this exciting Spanish variety. Planted on our Sand Road vineyard in 2021, this debut is light bodied but full of character, the old world in new hands. We have made our own version here, typified by the punk rock artwork of artist Tristan Kerr. Only 200 dozen produced, will be an instant hit!
Reviews of the 2024 Mencia:
Jacob Barter & Darren Oemcke, Fleurieu Living Magazine, Autumn 2026:
This wine is in the froth zone. Hither & Yon's Mencia leans into what the variety does best: dark, defined red fruit, herbal lift, gentle spice and a deliberate thread of earthiness. It avoids the overly clean style seen in some early Australian examples, instead embracing texture. There's a distinctly McLaren Vale signature running through it via a saline bead we can't shut up about. Side note: Malcolm set the scene correctly when getting some info from him over the phone - he actually had a bottle of Mencia in the fridge just about to be cracked open after a day in Kingston crayfishing.
93 points, Melissa Moore, The Real Review, January 2026:
Deep purple in the glass, with appealing aromas of black cherry and blackberry compote and vanilla cream, balanced by savoury notes of dried leaf and mountain herbs. Medium-bodied but juicy and ripe-fruited, with crunchy acidity and oak held in the background, appearing as light and dusty tannins. Plenty to like here.
90 points, Shanteh Wale, South Australian Wine Guide 2026, November 2025:
An inky pigmented wine with solid black fruit at its core, cassis and blackberry soothers. Some bay leaf, kombu and soft liquorice. An upbeat line of acidity and some powdery tannins. This makes for a wine with purpose and intrigue. It finishes with tar and a crumbly black rock minerality, some plum skin and bitter coffee granules. Drink now-2028.
Silver Medal, 2025 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show.
90 Points, Silver Medal, 2025 McLaren Vale Wine Show.
“Top Five Young Gun of Wine Deep Dive: Australia’s Best Mencia” July 2025
91 points, Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion, June 2025:
This is the first mencía release from estate Sand Road vineyard vines planted in 2021 to Christies Beach Formation: alluvial sand, silty clay and gravel. This was gently extracted over 12 days, then saw eight months in neutral oak. There’s a bit of tannin here, pithy, skinsy, teeth-coating tannin. Not too much, but certainly needing food. The wine is generally pulpy and bright, floral with juicy wild berries, blackberry pastille, raspberry coulis, a little tar and cherry cola, kind of slurpy and fresh, but again demanding food, with a fine seam of acidity also guiding one to the table.
