Tag Archives: Mourvèdre Monday

Price: 16-20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #28: Bandol Rosé

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With spring just around the corner, my pick for this Mourvèdre Monday is a lovely little Bandol rosé. Bandol, located within Provence, is France’s only wine region where Mourvèdre is the dominant grape. In other words, heaven. I couldn’t find the exact varietal composition of this bottle, but the Bandol AOC regulations require at least 50% Mourvèdre in its red and rosé wines (the rest most often Grenache and/or Cinsault).

Château des Baumelles 2010 Bandol Rosé

The gorgeous coral pink color of this wine entices before the first sniff. Citrus and red fruit drive the nose and palate, with a nice mineral core and plenty of twangy, bright acidity. In fact, one might just call it lip-smackingly good. I wish I had more of this for the Austin spring/summer ahead. If you see some, grab it. Around $18-20. VINEgeek Approved.

 

Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #27: Turkey Flat 2006

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve had a chance to taste a Barossa Mourvèdre for the intermittent yet persistent #MourvedreMonday series. I recently came across this bottle at a wine shop I hadn’t visited before. I’d heard of Turkey Flat before via my Mourvèdre-radar (i.e., hours on the internet), but hadn’t ever found a bottle on the shelf. So I was happy to find this one, with bonus points for a little bottle age.

Producer: Turkey Flat Vineyards

Grapes: 100% Mourvèdre

Appellation: Barossa Valley (Australia)

Vineyard: Turkey Flat Stonewell Block, a dry-farmed estate vineyard with limestone soil

Vintage: 2006

Winemaking: 20 months in new & seasoned French oak puncheons

Alcohol: 14.5%

Price: $32

My tasting notes: Deep, dark color. A bright raspberry note dominates the nose, but there’s an earthy complexity as well. It’s rich and full on the palate, with lifted red and black fruit that stays grounded by a sense of leather and spice. A bit of toasty oak. It finishes dry and grippy.

Overall impression: A nice spicy Barossa Mourvèdre that I’d happily drink again. This wine’s certainly no turkey. I hope to track down some other vintages of this wine and/or Turkey Flat’s GSM called Butchers Block Red.

 

Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Mourvèdre Monday #26 – Esprit de Beaucastel

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I tasted this wine back in the summer, but never got around to blogging my notes. So I decided to dust them off for today’s Mourvèdre Monday post.

Tablas Creek 2008 Esprit de Beaucastel Rouge

Complex nose of cherry/raspberry fruit with a hit of coffee/mocha and mint. On the palate, it is mouth-filling without being overwhelming. It delivers earthy dark fruit and lightly grippy tannins and finishes with a bit of a mineral/minty lift. Fruit-forward, but balanced.
VINEgeek Verdict: Damn good.

38% Mourvèdre
30% Grenache
26% Syrah
6% Counoise

Coolio bona fides:

  • grapes from organic estate vineyard
  • fermented with native yeasts
  • aged in 1200-gallon French oak foudres

Price: $40-45

Price: 10 bucks or less

Laya 2010

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I tasted an interesting little wine recently, the Bodegas Atalaya Laya 2010 from Spain’s D.O. Almansa, a blend of 70% Garnacha Tintorera (which is Alicante Bouschet) and 30% our good friend Monastrell. I didn’t record any tasting notes, but I quite enjoyed it and thought it had a lot going for it at around $10. Wine Enthusiast names this a Best Buy in this Stars of Southern Spain article. (They mistakenly – I think – list it as mostly Garnacha rather than Garnacha Tintorera. It is confusing because the label says Tintorera, but the website says Garnacha. I choose to trust the label.) Also, check out this post on the wine at the Excellent Everyday Wines blog.

While it’s only 30% Mouvèdre/Monastrell, let’s make it today’s Mourvèdre Monday recommendation.

 

Image is of 2011, but looks the same as 2010. (source)

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Asimov Tastes Monastrells

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A must-read for #TeamMourvedre / #TeamMonastrell geeks, like myself.* (It’s from last week, but I decided to wait to post it until today for a little Mourvèdre Monday action.

As a result my expectations were not high, so I was pleasantly surprised by how many of these wines I liked. Naturally, we found a few in the thick-and-jammy style, but they were far and away the exceptions. Many more of the wines seemed to possess an earthy, distinctly Spanish point of view. That is to say, they were full of dark flavors reminiscent, perhaps, of plums and licorice, but without the brooding, sometimes savage character of Bandol.

 

 

*Watch out for the NYTimes paywall. I’ve been reading so much of Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight blog this election season that I’d reach my limit of free articles, so I had to switch computers to read the Monastrell article.

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Mourvedre Monday #26 (Tetra-Pak Edition): Y+B Monastrell

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Welcome to the first tetra-pak edition of #MourvedreMonday. Yellow+Blue (Y+B) sells wine from organically grown grapes in environmentally-friendly 1-liter tetra-paks. (Yellow + Blue = Green. Get it?) They source wine from a number of locales, including Malbec and Torrontes from Argentina, Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, and this Monastrell from Spain. This is the first varietally-labeled Monastrell in tetra-pak that I’ve come across (and I’ve see a lot of Mourvèdre/Monastrell/Mataro). I have to admit, it was kinda weird pulling a carton out of my mini-cellar, but I got over that quick once I poured the wine.

Price: $12 for 1 liter

This wine was provided as a sample for review by the winery.

Tetra-pak

 

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Spicy berry fruit on the nose, with a dusty herbal character. Palate is full of sappy blackberry fruit, laced with exotic spice notes and a hint of smoked meat. A light tannic astringency on the reasonably lengthy finish. Definitely worth picking up if you want an inexpensive introduction to Monastrell or just want a tasty, fun-to-drink wine that fits a green lifestyle. B

UPDATE: Another review of this wine has gone up at The Passionate Foodie. He liked it, too. Check it out.