Time to drink up, not going to get much better. Dark and medium bodied, with good acidity, touch of spice, tobacco maybe. Ate with pulled barbecued chicken, nice match.
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This is a startling wine still. Blueberry, spice, leather and fruit compote over a soft body. Fabulous with very flavorful mediterranean dishes. Black pepper and green olives balance nicely.
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Blue fruits, plum, prune, and raspberry on nose and palate. Big, bold, and layered with hot feel and ripe tannins. Fantastic wine for the money. Organic grapes.
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Hints of greatness overwhelmed by lack of balance and consistency. Did not have the patience to give it more than a few hour decanting. Drinkable and fine, but nothing special. Though a great price, had higher expectations and was disappointed.
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Popped and poured; deep purple, medium bodied wine; blueberry pie aromas, dark fruit, some spice, nice acidity, fine tannins, short medium finish. Great food wine, not really a sipper on it's own. Definitely worth $6.
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I really don't like this. The nose is that super ripe, dark fruited style that is pleasing for a bottle under $10. On the palate, this gets dirty and horibbly bitter on the finish. Bad green olives was a descriptor. Not pleasant.
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This is going to sound weird, but this wine smells like a furniture store. At first the aroma just struck me as sweet, pretty, lively, maybe floral, but then I pegged it: furniture store. I guess that means it smells like the outgassing of fabric, leather and foam, which doesn't seem encouraging. But that smell does pass and the wine moves more toward a nose of kirsch and sugared mixed berries. On the palate there's a bit of smoky oak, stewed cherries, and the finish lingers lightly with some pleasant dark plum. Solid tannic grip. Seemed better the first night, but a very fair bottle.
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Drank with dinner. Big and bold with a leather component starting to show. Matched it to spicy sausage and garlic tomato sauce over whole wheat spaghetti. Very nice combo. The sausage seemed more flavorful with a licorice effect and the wine showed more cooked cherry fruit. This wine ain't gonna be everyone's cup of tea, but I sure like it.
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This is a wine that takes a little getting used to. Nice aromas on the nose, cherries and blood actually. The body is very full and the wine is a very dark, deeply extracted one. Dry wine but with a real sense of sweet, almost velvety texture, lying a bit clumsily next to a real mourvedre meatiness. Chewy tannins. I can't imagine drinking this wine without food. It stood up very well to a rosemary and aged black olive thick tomato sauce over whole wheat pasta liberally sprinkled with grated asiago cheese. No way any lightweight wine could handle that meal. BTW, if you want to know what mourvedre/monastrell really tastes like on its own, this is the wine to try.
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Tried 3 bottles with consistent notes. nasty taste and nose that I am having a really hard time placing, but it was overly sweet, spoiled and kind of garbage like
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Dark red in color, very dense. The nose is dominated by cooked fruits and rum, some nice cherry notes, dark cholotate, black pepper and mediterranean spices (oregano). The palate is very dry, dense and opulent with lots of licorice and strong bitter notes from the harsh tannins. Its very extracted and ripe, but somewhat awkward. The finish is very tannic and bitter. Definitely should be decanted 2-3 hours prior to drinking. All in all, it lacks harmony and structure and becomes very tiring to drink. I don't see this with food at all, except maybe some BBQ. Not my style, but if you like highly extracted fruit bombs, maybe you will appreciate this.
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Just had this at a store tasting. Attractive mint and earth on the nose. Some nice fruit but not complex. Medium concentration with subtle tannin that limits the finish. Palate not developed at all. It's young and all over the place. Needs time, but it's not meant for that considering the price and enthusiasm from the wine slingers. This style doesn't make sense to me.
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Nice wine for the price, obviously from the notes below there must be bottle to bottle variation (storage factors?), but based on this bottle and the price (<$10) I would buy again. Dark red color, good fruit & tannin.
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Deep purple, medium bodied wine. Expressive nose of blackberry/blueberry. Palate of dark fruits, vanilla, a little spice, nice acidity, medium tannins, and short-medium finish. Nice weeknight drinker and food friendly. Good buy at $6 and glad I have more.
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This is definitely a second day wine. First night, nose of sulphur, wet earth, slime (like a salamander.) Atrocious. Palate was quite impressive, though, with blueberry, blackberry, and blackcurrant dominating with a nice vanilla component and a very nice sweet finish. I drank it like I drink mead, trying to inhale as little as I can while enjoying as much of the palate as I can. After two days in the fridge, no nitrogen, nose has a lovely fruit component with only a wisp of sulphur and some baked element, a little like a cookie almost. Palate is nice and fruity with a little more vanilla/oak but the sweetness is nearly gone to be replaced with a nice, dry, lingering finish. A very solid bottle of wine, with just a hint of some cheapness bubbling over from somewhere to keep it from 90 points.
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So popped and poured to reveal an overwhelming odor of fresh baked sulfur bread..period. Not having the time or patience to decant this $10 bottle I through half of it into the blender for about 5 seconds (first time with this technique). immediately after blending a cloudburst of CO2, VA, and Sulfur gas mushroomed out of the carafe -- poured into a glass and let rest for about 15 mins. At first nothing but closed wine and over ripe hot fruit, but this changed for the better. Soon I was welcomed with vanilla/raspberry cola, cracked cedar, pipe tobacco, lavender, and even some white pepper. In the mouth there was nice acidity and the same vanilla/raspberry cola note. There were decent cedar humidor tannins that filled the mouth without dominating the fruit all ending with an unfortunate but sweet VA finish. The wine didn't seem to evolve much and rested its laurels on the vanilla/raspberry cola thing, with just a hint of white pepper (that was surprisingly reminiscent of southern Rhone Grenache). I saved the other half in the bottle, we'll see if it does any better with a day on the counter and no blender. Overall: not disgusting for $10, but you can do better.
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Decanted for an hour or two after dinner. A nice funk on the nose...not sure if this is characteristic of this region of Spain, as I don't drink much wine from there. The color is dark...nearly opaque. Good weight on the palate...dark fruits and some green notes as well. Some others definitely were not fond of this characteristic, but I didn't find it too dominant. All in all, a nice inexpensive Spanish quaffer.
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Dark raspberry in color showing a bright expressive nose of black cherry, black pepper and black licorice. Medium body in the mouth with good acidity and firm tannins that coat and cling to every inch of my mouth. On the palate, the wine is reserved showing a bit of cherry and leather. Pretty dimensional but a good wine. 3/5
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Deep burgundy red in color. Nice nose pure of fruit and somewhat straight forward. Pure raspberry notes, a bit of tar, and dark bing cherry. In the mouth this wine is medium weeight with a medium acidty and a tannins that seem a bit green. Cherry is dominate with some hints of minerals, steel, and mint. Really a simple wine that is a bit too hollow in the body. 2.5/5
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Scored this one down a few points from my previous bottles. Had the same nice lush full bodied structure. Fruit was very nice early on but as the night went on turned a little to stony and minerally for my taste. Old World folks would have liked this I'm sure.
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Decent enough for the price, but considerably less interesting than the other spanish wines tasted this evening for a few dollars more. While the initial flavors were nice enough, the dry finish overwhelmed.
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Dark, almost black, color. Menthol and blackberries on the nose. Light to medium body. Taste of plums, tar and crushed stone. The flavors are nicely integrated. Similar to the 2005 vintage.
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A bit thin on the mouth and sour/bitter on the finish at first, this wine improved as it breathed. I didn't decant this, as a lighter red, and just popped and poured; decanting would hasten the breathing, but also might make the wine collapse sooner.
Thin in the mouth, good fruit with just under-ripe blueberries and raspberries, 15 second finish, very soft tannins, phenomenal acidity. This would go great with just about any food, though it lacks the tannins for the biggest of the big red meats. Have this with lightly-seasoned fillet mignon, red-sauce pasta, or game fowl. I think it would also go nicely with chocolate.
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Solid, simple monastrell with good fruit and very drinkable. This is a great QPR and has been consistently for at least the last 4 years. And, this year the sediment quotient seems to be way down, which is nice.
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Decanted 2 hours. Nearly pitch black center, with pretty red edges. Ugh... smells like every other cheap Spanish wine. Sorry... let me get more detail. A bit of brier, but mainly just glue on the nose. Palate shows... wine (a red one, at that). This is a completely nondescript wine... Just wine for wine's sake. Finishes a bit dry with no defining characteristics. Must remember to stay away. Come to think of it, being that I really didn't like the Hécula, which is supposedly the premium version of this wine, I'm not sure why I got this thing... must have wanted to fill a 12 pack for shipment. This one may go down the drain before I finish it. NEXT DAY: poured myself a glass after letting it sit overnight, and it's now that much worse... had to deduct a couple points.
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big dark wine. blackberry, burned rubber, and spice nose, some barnyard that blew off after 10 minutes. spicy, dark fruit. dense, tight tannins. licorice/anise elements on medium finish. technically a very well-made wine but the anise is a turnoff for me. bought on a whim and overpaid at $10, would have been good QPR at $6-7.
day two showed more sweetness and less anise, made it more pleasant to my taste.
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Excellent wine for the price - fruit bomb with prune and dried cherry, full bodied, had one bottle by itself and had another the next night at dinner party - both tastings were consistent.
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My nose is totally off, so I'm not going to try. Deep strong cranberry and dry on the palate. Recommend with food, matches nicely with a nice high quality Gorgonzola. Nothing extraordinary, not many dimensions but decent. Seemed to pick up a little after breathing. Will have to give this one another try. Cheers!
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I was a little reluctant to open this wine this evening because I wasn't sure it would live up to the awesome meal I cooked. Damn were my worries unfounded. Luscious DARK fruit, vanilla spice, and some roast pork on the nose. The pallet is more of the same with some firm tannins and nice balancing acidity. This is my first Monastrell and I'm hooked. I cannot believe the values that I've had from spain lately. YUM!
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12/6/2011 - kkraditor wrote: 87 Points
Still very drinkable. black fruit and leather, spice on finish.
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7/23/2011 - DRob wrote:
Time to drink up, not going to get much better. Dark and medium bodied, with good acidity, touch of spice, tobacco maybe. Ate with pulled barbecued chicken, nice match.
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2/11/2011 - Krugsters wrote:
Simple, everyday drinking wine, exactly as it was intended. Dark fruit, overripe black jam, strong green olive note.
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7/15/2010 - carlwoz wrote: 86 Points
A little harsh on first opening. Crisp and tart. Opened nicely after 10-15 minutes. Mellowed nicely after that. A bit of currant and flint.
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5/1/2010 - dmalcolm wrote: 84 Points
Paired nicely with chicken fajitas. This ain't gonna improve. Drink up!
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4/10/2010 - wineguy58 wrote: 89 Points
initial nose of citrus leading to lingonberries on the palate with a clay-limestone like mineral finish. Good QPR
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1/24/2010 - Lobonick wrote: 88 Points
This is a startling wine still. Blueberry, spice, leather and fruit compote over a soft body. Fabulous with very flavorful mediterranean dishes. Black pepper and green olives balance nicely.
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9/22/2009 - Drugstore Cowboy wrote: 88 Points
Picking from previous descriptions-blueberry and leather dominate. Would go well with spicy food but not a wine that stands alone. A great value.
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7/19/2009 - no leashes wrote: 89 Points
Very nice sweet fruit, worked nicely with Thai food.
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6/18/2009 - Lobonick wrote: 91 Points
Sweet fruit compote and spice on the nose. Soft and pliant on the palate. Beautiful!
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3/23/2009 - csu.viticulture wrote: 90 Points
Blue fruits, plum, prune, and raspberry on nose and palate. Big, bold, and layered with hot feel and ripe tannins. Fantastic wine for the money. Organic grapes.
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3/6/2009 - mjl wrote: 84 Points
Hints of greatness overwhelmed by lack of balance and consistency. Did not have the patience to give it more than a few hour decanting. Drinkable and fine, but nothing special. Though a great price, had higher expectations and was disappointed.
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1/21/2009 - tarheel17 wrote: 79 Points
I did not like this wine. Aromas were stewed and a bit stale.
Medium acidity, bitter aftertaste. No midpalate. no thanks
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1/17/2009 - SadEdjo wrote: 85 Points
2009-01-17: searing pepper & melted licorice with lemon squirt finish. somewhat simple mid palate but good everyday quaffer & good QPR.
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1/11/2009 - SadEdjo wrote: 84 Points
straightforward midweight red.
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11/8/2008 - green-steve wrote: 85 Points
Popped and poured; deep purple, medium bodied wine; blueberry pie aromas, dark fruit, some spice, nice acidity, fine tannins, short medium finish. Great food wine, not really a sipper on it's own. Definitely worth $6.
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11/1/2008 - hutch wrote:
I really don't like this. The nose is that super ripe, dark fruited style that is pleasing for a bottle under $10. On the palate, this gets dirty and horibbly bitter on the finish. Bad green olives was a descriptor. Not pleasant.
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10/9/2008 - valecnik wrote: 87 Points
This is going to sound weird, but this wine smells like a furniture store. At first the aroma just struck me as sweet, pretty, lively, maybe floral, but then I pegged it: furniture store. I guess that means it smells like the outgassing of fabric, leather and foam, which doesn't seem encouraging. But that smell does pass and the wine moves more toward a nose of kirsch and sugared mixed berries. On the palate there's a bit of smoky oak, stewed cherries, and the finish lingers lightly with some pleasant dark plum. Solid tannic grip. Seemed better the first night, but a very fair bottle.
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9/23/2008 - spsong wrote: 80 Points
fruity, shallow, sour, doesn't inspire me, sadly.
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8/2/2008 - Lobonick wrote: 88 Points
Drank with dinner. Big and bold with a leather component starting to show. Matched it to spicy sausage and garlic tomato sauce over whole wheat spaghetti. Very nice combo. The sausage seemed more flavorful with a licorice effect and the wine showed more cooked cherry fruit. This wine ain't gonna be everyone's cup of tea, but I sure like it.
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7/26/2008 - etherscreen wrote:
must better than my previous note. we drank the whole thing.
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7/10/2008 - etherscreen wrote:
'05 was much better. this plonk went down the drain.
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6/20/2008 - Lobonick wrote: 87 Points
This is a wine that takes a little getting used to. Nice aromas on the nose, cherries and blood actually. The body is very full and the wine is a very dark, deeply extracted one. Dry wine but with a real sense of sweet, almost velvety texture, lying a bit clumsily next to a real mourvedre meatiness. Chewy tannins. I can't imagine drinking this wine without food. It stood up very well to a rosemary and aged black olive thick tomato sauce over whole wheat pasta liberally sprinkled with grated asiago cheese. No way any lightweight wine could handle that meal. BTW, if you want to know what mourvedre/monastrell really tastes like on its own, this is the wine to try.
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6/13/2008 - CaliCab wrote: flawed
Tried 3 bottles with consistent notes. nasty taste and nose that I am having a really hard time placing, but it was overly sweet, spoiled and kind of garbage like
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6/2/2008 - isbjoern wrote: 84 Points
Dark red in color, very dense. The nose is dominated by cooked fruits and rum, some nice cherry notes, dark cholotate, black pepper and mediterranean spices (oregano). The palate is very dry, dense and opulent with lots of licorice and strong bitter notes from the harsh tannins. Its very extracted and ripe, but somewhat awkward. The finish is very tannic and bitter. Definitely should be decanted 2-3 hours prior to drinking. All in all, it lacks harmony and structure and becomes very tiring to drink. I don't see this with food at all, except maybe some BBQ. Not my style, but if you like highly extracted fruit bombs, maybe you will appreciate this.
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5/4/2008 - esb wrote:
Just had this at a store tasting. Attractive mint and earth on the nose. Some nice fruit but not complex. Medium concentration with subtle tannin that limits the finish. Palate not developed at all. It's young and all over the place. Needs time, but it's not meant for that considering the price and enthusiasm from the wine slingers. This style doesn't make sense to me.
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5/2/2008 - ras2006 wrote: 84 Points
Nice wine for the price, obviously from the notes below there must be bottle to bottle variation (storage factors?), but based on this bottle and the price (<$10) I would buy again. Dark red color, good fruit & tannin.
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3/30/2008 - green-steve wrote: 85 Points
Deep purple, medium bodied wine. Expressive nose of blackberry/blueberry. Palate of dark fruits, vanilla, a little spice, nice acidity, medium tannins, and short-medium finish. Nice weeknight drinker and food friendly. Good buy at $6 and glad I have more.
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3/15/2008 - DancingDavidE wrote: 88 Points
didn't run it through the mill, but tasted great with mac and cheese and polish sausage
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3/15/2008 - jjlobi wrote: 85 Points
I was not a fan of this one, but others liked this quite a bit. Peppery they said and would buy again. A great value.
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3/13/2008 - bmckenna wrote: 89 Points
This is definitely a second day wine. First night, nose of sulphur, wet earth, slime (like a salamander.) Atrocious. Palate was quite impressive, though, with blueberry, blackberry, and blackcurrant dominating with a nice vanilla component and a very nice sweet finish. I drank it like I drink mead, trying to inhale as little as I can while enjoying as much of the palate as I can. After two days in the fridge, no nitrogen, nose has a lovely fruit component with only a wisp of sulphur and some baked element, a little like a cookie almost. Palate is nice and fruity with a little more vanilla/oak but the sweetness is nearly gone to be replaced with a nice, dry, lingering finish. A very solid bottle of wine, with just a hint of some cheapness bubbling over from somewhere to keep it from 90 points.
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3/6/2008 - LeifErik wrote: 83 Points
So popped and poured to reveal an overwhelming odor of fresh baked sulfur bread..period. Not having the time or patience to decant this $10 bottle I through half of it into the blender for about 5 seconds (first time with this technique). immediately after blending a cloudburst of CO2, VA, and Sulfur gas mushroomed out of the carafe -- poured into a glass and let rest for about 15 mins. At first nothing but closed wine and over ripe hot fruit, but this changed for the better. Soon I was welcomed with vanilla/raspberry cola, cracked cedar, pipe tobacco, lavender, and even some white pepper. In the mouth there was nice acidity and the same vanilla/raspberry cola note. There were decent cedar humidor tannins that filled the mouth without dominating the fruit all ending with an unfortunate but sweet VA finish. The wine didn't seem to evolve much and rested its laurels on the vanilla/raspberry cola thing, with just a hint of white pepper (that was surprisingly reminiscent of southern Rhone Grenache). I saved the other half in the bottle, we'll see if it does any better with a day on the counter and no blender. Overall: not disgusting for $10, but you can do better.
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3/2/2008 - winenewb068 wrote: 87 Points
Decanted for an hour or two after dinner. A nice funk on the nose...not sure if this is characteristic of this region of Spain, as I don't drink much wine from there. The color is dark...nearly opaque. Good weight on the palate...dark fruits and some green notes as well. Some others definitely were not fond of this characteristic, but I didn't find it too dominant. All in all, a nice inexpensive Spanish quaffer.
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2/8/2008 - gabriella wrote:
Dark raspberry in color showing a bright expressive nose of black cherry, black pepper and black licorice. Medium body in the mouth with good acidity and firm tannins that coat and cling to every inch of my mouth. On the palate, the wine is reserved showing a bit of cherry and leather. Pretty dimensional but a good wine. 3/5
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2/8/2008 - obiscoito wrote:
Deep burgundy red in color. Nice nose pure of fruit and somewhat straight forward. Pure raspberry notes, a bit of tar, and dark bing cherry. In the mouth this wine is medium weeight with a medium acidty and a tannins that seem a bit green. Cherry is dominate with some hints of minerals, steel, and mint. Really a simple wine that is a bit too hollow in the body. 2.5/5
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2/1/2008 - cmr wrote: 86 Points
Scored this one down a few points from my previous bottles. Had the same nice lush full bodied structure. Fruit was very nice early on but as the night went on turned a little to stony and minerally for my taste. Old World folks would have liked this I'm sure.
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2/1/2008 - bpobric wrote:
This is a great Monastrell for the money. It is under 10 bucks...I beleive I paid 7 or so...
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1/16/2008 - ooridoori wrote: 89 Points
Pretty good. No rough finish. Buy it again.
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1/12/2008 - no leashes wrote: 86 Points
Decent enough for the price, but considerably less interesting than the other spanish wines tasted this evening for a few dollars more. While the initial flavors were nice enough, the dry finish overwhelmed.
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1/12/2008 - brewery44 wrote: 87 Points
Dark, almost black, color. Menthol and blackberries on the nose. Light to medium body. Taste of plums, tar and crushed stone. The flavors are nicely integrated. Similar to the 2005 vintage.
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1/6/2008 - cmr wrote: 89 Points
Fabulous QPR. Very nice and with a little air really came together, nice spice and dark fruits with very nice balance and structure.
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12/6/2007 - Loweeel wrote: 88 Points
A bit thin on the mouth and sour/bitter on the finish at first, this wine improved as it breathed. I didn't decant this, as a lighter red, and just popped and poured; decanting would hasten the breathing, but also might make the wine collapse sooner.
Thin in the mouth, good fruit with just under-ripe blueberries and raspberries, 15 second finish, very soft tannins, phenomenal acidity. This would go great with just about any food, though it lacks the tannins for the biggest of the big red meats. Have this with lightly-seasoned fillet mignon, red-sauce pasta, or game fowl. I think it would also go nicely with chocolate.
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12/1/2007 - amax wrote: 88 Points
Solid, simple monastrell with good fruit and very drinkable. This is a great QPR and has been consistently for at least the last 4 years. And, this year the sediment quotient seems to be way down, which is nice.
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11/27/2007 - David Paris (dbp) wrote: 78 Points
Decanted 2 hours. Nearly pitch black center, with pretty red edges. Ugh... smells like every other cheap Spanish wine. Sorry... let me get more detail. A bit of brier, but mainly just glue on the nose. Palate shows... wine (a red one, at that). This is a completely nondescript wine... Just wine for wine's sake. Finishes a bit dry with no defining characteristics. Must remember to stay away. Come to think of it, being that I really didn't like the Hécula, which is supposedly the premium version of this wine, I'm not sure why I got this thing... must have wanted to fill a 12 pack for shipment. This one may go down the drain before I finish it. NEXT DAY: poured myself a glass after letting it sit overnight, and it's now that much worse... had to deduct a couple points.
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11/11/2007 - KillerScaryRawr wrote: 87 Points
big dark wine. blackberry, burned rubber, and spice nose, some barnyard that blew off after 10 minutes. spicy, dark fruit. dense, tight tannins. licorice/anise elements on medium finish. technically a very well-made wine but the anise is a turnoff for me. bought on a whim and overpaid at $10, would have been good QPR at $6-7.
day two showed more sweetness and less anise, made it more pleasant to my taste.
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10/24/2007 - bengel wrote: 89 Points
Excellent wine for the price - fruit bomb with prune and dried cherry, full bodied, had one bottle by itself and had another the next night at dinner party - both tastings were consistent.
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10/14/2007 - js5280 wrote: 85 Points
My nose is totally off, so I'm not going to try. Deep strong cranberry and dry on the palate. Recommend with food, matches nicely with a nice high quality Gorgonzola. Nothing extraordinary, not many dimensions but decent. Seemed to pick up a little after breathing. Will have to give this one another try. Cheers!
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10/10/2007 - nietzschephilosopher wrote: 89 Points
I was a little reluctant to open this wine this evening because I wasn't sure it would live up to the awesome meal I cooked. Damn were my worries unfounded. Luscious DARK fruit, vanilla spice, and some roast pork on the nose. The pallet is more of the same with some firm tannins and nice balancing acidity. This is my first Monastrell and I'm hooked. I cannot believe the values that I've had from spain lately. YUM!
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9/16/2007 - cmr wrote: 89 Points
Fabulous QPR. Very nice and with a little air really came together, nice spice and dark fruits with very nice balance and structure.
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9/6/2007 - jim dixon wrote: 87 Points
For the money, pretty great. Tastes like a $15 wine for significantly less. Simple dark and red fruit.
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