LAYA GARNACHA MONASTRELL

Description

Bodegas Atalaya, from Almansa in the southeast of spain (about an hour’s drive inland from Murcia), has a wealth of old vines planted to limestone soils that bear shockingly balanced wines given the heat the region is used to. In part, they’re helped by their elevation (700 – 1000 metres asl) which helps cool everything off at night.

Among their old vines, and which makes up about 75% of this blend, they have an interesting regional variety of Garnacha called Garnacha “Tintorera”. It’s what’s called a teinturier grape, which in short, has an incredible amount of pigment. So much, in fact, that the free-run juice of this grape is already red when it’s first pressed, before even pulling additional colour from the skins. To keep the chemistry as brief as possible, pigment likes to “bookend” tannins, keeping the tannin chains shorter, and the mouthfeel smoother.

Expect lots of notes of blackcurrants, kirsch, and from the old vines Monastrell which makes up the rest of the blend, a wisp of smokiness, meatiness, and earthiness. It spends four months aging in french oak to help it all marry together, and makes a perfect wine for barbecues.