Winemaker Notes
Pair it with pork chops, Kobe beef, or parmesan-crusted asparagus tips.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Their entry-level Monastrell is already the 2016 La Tremenda is sourced from the vineyard that names the wine, from their estate El Chaconero in the village of Villena, a plot at 600 meters altitude planted some 25 years ago. It fermented in stainless steel and matured in French barriques for six months. 2016 is a cooler year than 2014 or 2015, and the wines reflect it. It was not an easy year; they had to do a strict selection of grapes, and it paid off. It has the character of the variety, with its elegant rusticity with a fresh, herbal twist and a palate with fine-grained tannins, nicely textured and with a supple, very tasty finish. This is a superb introduction to Monastrell from Alicante at an incredible 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.