VINEgeek

Back to Spain for Mourvèdre Monday. This one’s from Bodegas Castaño, one of the biggest producers of Monastrell in Yecla, in southeastern Spain. This wine got 90+ points from Parker for 5 straight vintages, including this one. Let’s see what’s up.
Producer: Bodegas Castaño
Grapes: 100% Monastrell
Appellation: Yecla
Vineyards: From 30+ year old vines in two vineyards: Las [...]

Mourvèdre Monday finally makes it to Texas. Becker is a big name in the Texas wine scene. I’ve tried quite a few of their wines over the years with mixed results. I had high hopes for their “Prairie Rotie” — a Southern Rhône blend of Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah and Carignan (though the name is a [...]

I’ve been meaning to devote more attention to Bandol in the Mourvèdre Monday series. Bandol, after all, is the only appellation in France where Mourvèdre is the top dog grape (it must be a minimum of 50% of the blend).
So I was very excited when I was recently followed on Twitter by @BandolWines and subsequently [...]

I always look forward to opening another bottle of wine from Cline Cellars. Cashmere is their GSM blend (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre) and in their latest release – the 2008 –  they’ve upped the share of Mourvèdre in the blend. Your favorite blogger’s favorite grape is now the lead dog at 44%. (Let’s all pretend [...]

Opening one of Randall Grahm’s wines is always an event for me. I had the 2003 version of this wine in my cellar for 4 or 5 years before I gave in to temptation and pulled the cork; I was not disappointed. Though this is a 2004, I didn’t have to cellar it for half [...]

In the last Mourvèdre Monday post, I reviewed the Lorca 2006 Monastrell from Bodegas del Rosario. I wasn’t planning on doing this Lorca 2008 back-to-back with the last, but our dinner of chorizo, shrimp, olives and rice made me want to go to Spain with my wine choice, and this is the last Spanish Monastrell [...]

I already had a bottle of the 2008 Lorca waiting for it’s turn on Mourvèdre Monday when I saw this 2006 stacked up at Costco. I had high hopes this could be another nice Costco find. I originally intended to do a mini-vertical and open both of these at the same time for this post, [...]

This wine always catches my eye on the shelf, with it’s orange label and simple design. I’ve had past vintages and like it pretty well, so let’s see what’s up with the 2008.
Carro Tinto 2008
Producer: Bodega Señorio de Barahonda. They put out 10 or 12 different bottlings of Monastrell or Monastrell blends under the Barahonda, [...]

It’s been a little while since a Spanish Monastrell has made an appearance on Mourvèdre Monday. This one comes from Sierra Salinas in the Alicante region focused on the Monastrell grape.
Producer: Bodegas Sierra Salinas
Grapes: Primarily Monastrell (the Spanish name for Mourvèdre), with Garnacha Tintorera (which is not Garnacha/Grenache, but the same as Alicante Bouchet), Syrah [...]

I don’t have a new review post for you this week. But those of you who need a Monday Mourvèdre fix, please take a look at the recap post for last week’s Wine Blogging Wednesday #69, over at the host Richard Auffrey’s Passionate Foodie blog. There was very light participation this month, but there were [...]