Enrique Mendoza La Tremenda Monastrell - Viva La Monastrell!

Savory, tannic and delicious, we review the Enrique Mendoza La Tremenda Monastrell.

100% Monastrell from Alicante, Spain. The wine is aged for 6 months in 2-3 year old French oak barrels and another 12 months in bottle before release. It has 0.92 g/L of residual sugar.

Sample submitted for review. The Enrique Mendoza La Tremenda Monastrell has an SRP of $12 and is available for as low as $10. It is imported by Winebow Inc.

Monastrell is the Spanish name for Mourvèdre, a grape most commonly seen in Rhone style blends. This variety, which is usually high in tannins and alcohol, is quite popular in areas of Spain as a single varietal. And winemaking has quite a history in Spain; in fact, wine was introduced to the area of today's wine (Catalonia) by the Phoenicians in 500 BC. With that much experience making wine they must be quite good at it, right? Let's find out.

Here's a nice blast from the past - it's been an entire decade since we've reviewed this wine, last sampling the 2008 vintage. We certainly enjoyed it then but let's check how the 2018 compares.

The 2018 Enrique Mendoza La Tremenda Monastrell begins with a very good, very savory aroma of lovely dark fruit, sweet spice and dried herbs.

The savoriness continues in the mouth with similar flavors to the nose but the deep fruit flavors are fresh and a bit juicy. Nicely tannic and with good balance this is wonderful example of the variety at this extremely low price.

It ends dry and long with a bit of oaky spice underneath the lingering fruit. Overall we liked it even better than the 2008 as it doesn't have any of the smokiness of that wine and features better balance.

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