Pepe Mendoza PMCA

Alicante

Casa Agrícola Monastrell-Giró 2020

Size

Monastrell (70%), 20% Giró and a touch of Garnacha Tintoreira (Alicante Henri Bouchet). The Giró is coastal from Abargues, the rest from dry grown 50yo bush vines in Alto Vinalopó from ‘Parcela el Veneno’ and ‘Parcela Los Burros’. Organic viticulture, whole fruit with 20% stems, fermented naturally in 1,000 litre tank at 21 degrees. 20% is aged in 500L French oak, most rests in tank.

Magnificently fresh, fiercely Mediterranean scrubland balsamic aromas. Ultra-pure, light, flowing wine of rosemary, pine, laurel, thyme, resin, scrub. Mulberry leaves, stones and red dates in a mix of orchard and maritime smells. A saline thread lines the gently spiced cherry lipstick fruit, which is less than mid-weight, with gentle tannin and subdued glycerol. Delicate acidity is soft, freshly on point. Ease of passage, balsamic lift, balance and light are the thing. The palate’s more flutter than chew, laid out and running.