Winemaker Notes
Pair with monkfish and seasonal mushrooms.
Dry-farmed, no pesticides or herbicides, hand-harvested, Vegan
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The entry-level red 2017 Laya is a fruit-driven Garnacha Tintorera (a.k.a. Alicante Bouschet) blend with some Monastrell (less this year, because Monastrell didn't behave well in Almansa in 2017) from dry-farmed vines; it fermented in stainless steel followed by malolactic in barrel, where the wine matured for four months. This has a very expressive and gentle nose, with nice fruit and even some notes of flowers. It has tannins, but it's not as aggressive as some might think. This is a characterful and powerful Mediterranean red, and it represents very good value for money.
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.