Bodegas Sierra Salinas Mira Salinas 2017
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Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesSlightly more expensive, the 2017 Mira Salinas Monastrell sports a dense purple hue to go with a great nose of red, blue, and black fruits as well as peppery herbs, leather, and assorted meaty, spicy nuances. Rich, full-bodied, and mouth-filling on the palate, it brings load of fruit and texture while staying balanced and lively. It will keep for 5-7 years. Best After 2022
In 2013, the Miñano and Gómez families, owners of MGWine Group, purchased Bodega Sierra Salinas
Founded in 2000 by the Castaño family of Yecla. Since 2013, the philosophy of the Miñano and Gómez families has been to restore focus on the vineyards, by converting all of them to organic and dry farming. The temptation in such an arid climate as Alicante is to irrigate, but dry farming in this zone forces the root structures to grow deep and produces bunches with a tremendous natural balance of phenolic ripeness and healthy pH. They have also minimized the impact of new oak barrique in their wines, and at this price point, are creating a completely unique style of Monastrell from Alicante. Jorge Ordóñez Selections began to represent Bodega Sierra Salinas in the United States in July of 2018.
Alicante is a port city in southeastern Costa Blanca and municipality in the Valencian Community of Spain. The eponymous DO is a non-contiguous appellation, divided between east and west. Along the eastern coast you find La Marina, a subzone known for its perfumed sweet white wines made from Moscatel de Alejandría; other white grape varieties include Merseguera and Malvasía. The drier, more extreme climate to the west is home to Monastrell, which accounts for 75% of total DO vineyard plantings. Other major red grape varieties include Garnacha Tintorera and Bobal, a thick-skinned black variety native to the Levante (the eastern edge of the Iberian Peninsula). Bobal had been destined for bulk wine production during much of its modern history but a new generation of winemakers today are taking advantage of the wide availability of old vine material, to produce full-bodied, concentrated wines, which are increasingly complex. In the last ten years, Alicante DO has gained popularity and respect for its new light, fresh wines and interesting varietal reds produced by pioneering bodegas.
Alongside the other wines emerging here, Alicante’s classic dessert wine, Fondillon, has been exported for centuries and is enjoying its own renaissance.
Full of ripe fruit, and robust, earthy goodness, Mourvèdre is actually of Spanish provenance, where it still goes by the name Monastrell or Mataro. It is better associated however, with the Red Blends of the Rhône, namely Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Mourvèdre shines on its own in Bandol and is popular both as a single varietal wine in blends in the New World regions of Australia, California and Washington. Somm Secret—While Mourvèdre has been in California for many years, it didn’t gain momentum until the 1980s when a group of California winemakers inspired by the wines of the Rhône Valley finally began to renew a focus on it.