Bodegas Castano Solanera 2003
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Parker
Robert
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"... a beautiful blend of 75% Mourvedre and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache... possesses purity, suppleness, and balance. It is another example of why Spain is beating virtually every other viticultural area in the world when it comes to high quality wines that sell for a song."
-Wine Advocate
Located in Southeastern Spain, the "lost" region of Yecla lies to the east of Jumilla and to the west of Alicante. Fortunately, this region was spared much of the wrath of the phyloxera plague, and many ungrafted and extremely old vines remain. The region's progressive leader Bodegas Castano has long been an advocate of the Monastrell varietal-also known as Mourvedre. The varietal is best regarded for its influence on the wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape where the terroir and climate is not dissimilar to that of Yecla with both benefiting from a very warm, Mediterranean climate with warm days and nights.
Professional Ratings
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
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Created by Ramon Castano Santa and his 3 sons, Bodegas Castano is not nearly as old as the vines it owns. Starting quite small, the family has nurtured these old plantings and re-planted other parcels and now owns 350 hectares of some of the prime vineyard land in Yecla. Today, Daniel Castano, one of Ramon's sons, runs the winery with the help of other members of the family.
The extremely talented Mariano Lopez has taken over the winemaker reins at the Bodega, and has turned the focus toward more balanced bottlings of older vine Monastrell. Both traditional and carbonic maceration techniques are used and all wines pass through malolactic fermentation. Daniel believes that the fruit and tannin structure of the Monastrell varietal stands up well to the use of oak, and as such, many of the wines pass (in varying degrees) through a barrel regime.
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.