2014 Monastrell

The entry level wine here is the 2014 Monastrell, a wine that mixes grapes from different valley vineyards within the estate where you find more sand and clay and the age of the vines varies between 35 and five-years-old. Starting with this vintage, which was nothing short of challenging, the wine is not a pure Monastrell, but a blend with some 10% Syrah (from the Valtosca vineyards, which was not produced in this vintage) and some 5% Garnacha from new plantings coming into production. In future years the percentage of other grapes -- mainly Garnacha -- will be increased, and the wine will not be called Monastrell anymore, but simply Casa Castillo. It fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for some eight months before bottling. This feels like a superb vintage for the cuvée, very complete, aromatic, subtler than in the past, more elegant. The palate also feels very complete, nicely balanced, with great acidity and a very fine thread which makes it nicely textured. It's remarkable how the wines seem to be fine tuned each vintage, irrespective of how hard the climate conditions are. This is always a great value and represents the zone and vintage quite faithfully. It's thought out to be enjoyed young, but I've drunk incredible bottles at age 20! Some 220,000 bottles produced.