4 Monos Tinto 2012
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Robert
Parker
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Blend: 85% Garnacha, 10% Syrah, 5% Carinena
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Tinto is a blend of Garnacha (85%), Syrah (10%) and Cariñena (5%) from different plots in the villages of San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Cadalso de los Vidrios and Cenicientos at 730 to 850 meters altitude on sandy granite soils. The full clusters fermented for 21-40 days depending on plot and variety and the wine aged for one year in 300-, 400- and 500-liter French barrels. You don't feel the wood in the explosive nose, very aromatic, full of wild berries and flowers, in a Rhône-ish style but with some citric, blood orange-like freshness. The palate is medium-bodied and here you feel the power with abundant fine-grained tannins and generous alcohol, which makes it lush and impressive, with moderate acidity. It should improve in bottle, but can be drunk now with red meat. Impressive and easy to like.
4 Monos (4 Monkeys) is a project started in 2010 by 4 wine savvy friends - Javier García, Laura Robles, David Velasco, and David Moreno – in the Sierra de Gredos mountains, west of Madrid. They work 5 hectares of their own, as well as 5ha with other growers, all located in and around the villages of San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Cadalso de los Vidrios, and Cenicientos. Their missio n is to capture the purity of the local old vine Albillo and Garnacha grapes and the granitic soils of the area by utilizing organic viticulture and natural winemaking methods. Vinos de Madrid is an appellation that encompasses a broad area within 3 provinces surrounding the city of Madrid. The climate is continental with a bit more rainfall than the rest of central Spain. The most prized area for serious winegrowing is called San Martín de Valdeiglesias, about 85km from Madrid in the Sierra d e Gredos Mountain range. Here, there are gently rolling hills of green scrub brush and vines planted on a shallow topsoil of sand over a base of granite. The elevation is quite high, starting at 650 meters, and going up to well over a thousand meters.
Spanish red wine is known for being bold, heady, rustic and age-worthy, Spain is truly a one-of-a-kind wine-producing nation. A great majority of the country is hot, arid and drought-ridden, and since irrigation has only been recently introduced and (controversially) accepted, viticulture has sustained—and flourished—only through a great understanding of Spain’s particular conditions. Large spacing between vines allows each enough resources to survive and as a result, the country has the most acreage under vine compared to any other country, but is usually third in production.
Of the Spanish red wines, the most planted and respected grape variety is Tempranillo, the star of Spain’s Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions. Priorat specializes in bold red blends, Jumilla has gained global recognition for its single varietal Monastrell and Utiel-Requena has garnered recent attention for its reds made of Bobal.