Monastrell

Synonymies: alcayata (Spain), garrut (Valencia and Tarragona), gayata (Murcia), mataró (Catalonia, Australia and USA), mourvede (France, Provence), negria (Greece).

A variety of Spanish origin from the Sagunto area (Valencia), very widespread in southeastern Spain and the rest of the Mediterranean arc. This grape has even reached California, Washington and Australia.

Its late budding and ripening make it suitable for warm climates. With good fertility and medium-high vigor, it is quite resistant to drought and needs high temperatures to ripen. For all these reasons, it is mainly grown in dry and warm regions of Spain, such as Murcia and the interior of Alicante.

The wines obtained from this variety are mostly powerful, ripe, tasty and balanced. The great value of these wines is that they can reach high alcoholic graduations (over 14.5º) and be very well balanced, as they maintain their acidity very well.

The problem in recent years, and due to climate change, is that in the main areas where it is planted and since it is a long-cycle variety, phenolic maturation is not reached until the grapes do not reach alcoholic graduations of 15º and 16º. For this reason, nowadays it requires more work in the vineyard to balance its sugar/alcohol with acidity. Monastrell behaves well in short aging periods, where the fruit is balanced and even enhanced by the spicy notes of the oak.