January 2013 - Wine Express Blog

Wine is something best enjoyed in the company of other people. The better the company, the better the wine seems a good and memorable adage. I’m reminded of this whenever I am asked to name the best bottle of wine I have ever had. Since I’m getting old and therefore have had time to drink thousands and thousands of different wines, that’s not an easy question to answer. I can remember the most expensive, a bottle of Chateau Margaux for which I paid the kind of money that would have bought me a pallet or two of eminently drinkable wine from somewhere else. I remember the most I have ever drunk at one time, several bottles in a session with friends in Africa which left me with a headache for nearly a week. I remember the most prescient choice I made when compiling our wine list; a bottle of Pinot Noir from California which was later chosen to be served as President Barack Obama’s inaugural lunch. I also remember dozens of great and/or interesting wines I have enjoyed with friends over the decades; wonderful New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, patrician Grand Crus from Montrachet in Burgundy, majestic Cabernet Sauvignons from Napa Valley and breathtakingly good Pinot Noir from the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley in South Africa.

But the best single bottle? I think it would have to be a bottle of cheap, sparkling and semi-sweet wine called Barossa Pearl and widely available in Australia and New Zealand in the 1960’s. I was 19 at the time and I shared it with a pretty, clever and subsequently amorous girl just a year or two older than me.

John Borrell

Few people have heard of the Spanish grape Monastrell. They are much more likely to have heard of Mouverdre from France or Mataro from Australia, both of them clones of the original Spanish Monastrell. The reason for the grape’s obscurity is that until recently it was grown primarily to produce bulk wine which was shipped off, often abroad, to add colour and body to more anaemic wines with better name recognition.

But just as Primitivo from Puglia in Italy has in recent years shrugged off its bulk wine image and become a sought-after single varietal, so too is Monastrell from Murcia in Spain rapidly becoming much more than just a tanker or blending wine. In fact, a recent visit to Murcia in the south of Spain has left me wondering whether Murcia might not be the new Puglia and Monastrell the new Primitivo, an increasingly popular grape in Poland.

There are many similarities. Both regions are in the hot, dry south of their respective countries. Both grape varieties tend to produce full, fruity and sometimes tannic wines. Both Primitivo and Monastrell are often great value for money, especially when compared to wines from better known regions in their own countries. Chianti in Italy and Rioja in Spain spring immediately to mind.

On my visit to wineries in both the Jumilla and Yecla denominations in Murcia, I tasted single varietal Monastrell with 93 Parker points and met winemakers who believed they will soon achieve scores in the high 90’s. I also tasted Monastrell with Parker scores in the high 80’s which could be retailed in Poland for less than 30 zl a bottle.

In fact they will be within a month or two. Check our website for Monastrell from Murcia early in the New Year.

John Borrell

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