Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with rich fare such as beef shortribs, marinated pork shoulder, or a vegetable stirfry tossed with soy sauce.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Las Quebradas is pure Monastrell is named after the vineyard it comes from—a chalk-rich, stony vineyard with very poor soils, located at 500 meters altitude and planted with 1,500 vines per hectare, all dry-farmed and head-pruned. It matured in French oak barrels for 15 months. It has the calcaire character, very much about the soil. 2014 is a ripe year, but they work in the vineyard to be able to harvest the grapes earlier, and the wine has beautiful balance. It has already developed some aromas, and even if it’s still young and should develop further in bottle, it is already very pleasant and shows complexity.
Rating: 93+
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.