Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Living up to its name, the 2010 Espectacle del Montsant, sourced from three hectares of centenary Garnacha and aged in a 4,500-litre oak foudre, has a really spectacular nose, with such perfume that it feels almost like a white, with notes of lilies, rose petals, lychee, orange blossom, candied violets and blood oranges. The palate is akin to chewing into maraschino cherries, full of energy, with musky flavors, a great, persistent aftertaste lingering in your mouth for minutes. Despite its 15% alcohol, the wine feels medium-bodied and easy to drink, it makes you long for the next sip. A wine to smell for hours, as it develops and changes like a chameleon in the glass: black olives, tree bark, kirsch, fennel, orange skin, violets, malt, and smoke. A superb, world-class Garnacha: spectacular! 5,500 bottles produced. Drink now-2025.
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.