Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Bodegas Alto Moncayo started in 2001 as a collaboration between importer Jorge Ordoñez, American importer Dan Phillips, Australian winemaker Chris Ringland and others. Located near the town of Borja, the 210 acres of vineyards are head-pruned, old Grenache vines planted at 3,000 feet above sea level in poorly nourished soils of slate, clay, chalk and quartzite. They make a number of cuvées, the most famous being the more expensive Alto Moncayo and the Aquilon. Their inexpensive offering is the 2012 Veraton, a 100% Grenache aged in 60% new French and 40% American oak for 17 months before being bottled without filtration. It is a powerful, full-throttle, pedal-to-the-metal red boasting a dense purple color, and a sweet blackcurrant and black cherry fruit, lavender, licorice and earth notes intermixed with a touch of new oak. Stylistically, this is a modern, massively intense, rich wine that over-delivers in many ways. However, it is not for consumers looking for shy, restrained and delicate wines. It should drink well for a decade.
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.