Monastrell
Primitivo Quiles Fondillon ‘El Abuelo’ Gran Reserva
So this is literally the Grandfather Fondillion from PQ (El Abuelo means grandfather in Spanish). The solera for this wine was started in 1892 and even though it is a single barrel, it is managed in the same way that solera is. Only a small amount is drawn from the solera each year and a small amount of new wine replaces the drawn out wine. Only something like 350 bottles are drawn from the solera in this case.
Primitivo Quiles Fondillon 1948
What the hell is Fondillon? Well, its basically a wine that is harvested with a very high sugar content, fermented into wine with a little residual sugar left over then put in a big barrel and aged for a very long time. It’s kind of like sherry, but it’s not fortified.
Salvador Poveda ‘Borrasca’ 2002
A ‘high expression’ wine from Salvador Poveda, who you might know from their Toscar range. Low production from older Monastrell vines that are grown at high altitude. Very sensible use of big 500l french oak barrels too. Production is limited to 7,000 bottles. Being from the 2002 vintage, its spent a bit of time in bottle which hasn’t hurt either.
Toscar Monastrell 2005
I've saved the best of these Toscar wines as the last post in the set. Before I tasted these 4, I wondered if the wine that the region is best known for, Monastrell, would come out on top. And it did. There is a bit more character with this wine, and if there is one thing [...]
Bodega Enrique Mendoza ‘Estrecho’ 2004
I went to a very interesting tasting yesterday, had a couple of very good wines and some top tier ports. So I'm all fired up today, not that it takes much. As a side note, I should have a couple of Spanish wines under screwcap to review in a couple of weeks, along side their [...]
Bodegas La Purisma Trapio Monastrell 2004
These monastrell wines seem to get better each year, I’m not sure if its vintage conditions or increasing levels of skill and experience. Probably both. If you tried this wine a couple of years ago, give it another shot. I think you’ll be well rewarded for your $40 outlay.
Opens up with aromas [...]
Bodegas Castano Monastrell 2005
I've been fairly critical of wines made using carbonic maceration. The smell of burnt rubber isn't really something that I want in a wine. This one gets it right, not a hint of Dunlop's finest here. The result is a wine with fresh juicy fruit that's very easy to drink.
Bright ruby in colour. Aromas [...]
Bodegas Castano Celeccion 2003
I need a wine to with a steak the other day and pulled this out of the tasting pile. Its a good thing I did, this has everything you want in a good steak wine. Its a blend of 80% Monastrell and 20% Cabernet that sees 15 months in new French and American oak.
Very dark in the glass. [...]
Bodega Enrique Mendoza Estrecho 2003
I've been in Sydney for the last couple of days and had a look around the "Spanish Quarter". Hmmm… I can see why it is so confusing for many people to identify quality Spanish food and wine. Most of the restaurants are reinforcing many of the myths about Spanish food and wine, a bit cheesy [...]
Telmo Rodriguez Al Muvedre 2005
Each release of this wine has seen great improvement, this is definitely the best so far. I can't tell if its good vintage conditions in 05, changes in wine making or something else completely. Alicante is in the province of Alicante, a bit closer to the coast than Jumilla and Yecla. Not a lot of [...]
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