Los Frailes Monastrell-Garnacha 2013
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Robert
Parker
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Los Frailes Monastrell-Garnacha (Tintorera), aka Alicante Bouschet, is a 70/30 blend fermented separately in stainless steel vats and matured for four months in used barriques and a further ten months in cement vats. The nose shows good intensity and certain elegance a mixture of red berries, some fennel, Mediterranean herbs and spices. The palate is medium-bodied, with very fine tannins, clean, delineated flavors and good freshness. A very good Mediterranean blend at a great price.
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.