Whomp whomp… the Luna Beberide is no more!

So how do we top a 96-pointer Spanish red? With a 98-pointer at a CRAZY LOW PRICE!

According to DeMilked, Carpet Bathrooms are #1 on the “Stuff That Should Not Exist” but still does list. Crocs High Heels, Canned Bread, and Swedish Fish Oreos are all down this colorful guide as well. We will be petitioning to add a “WA98 Red Under $50” to this list, patent pending.

Meanwhile, we’ve got THIS! From where else but Spain again?

And for that, we’re heading to Jumilla where Monastrell roams, and originates. Aka Mourvèdre, the inky burly beauty of the Rhône. It shows so in the opaque color with a neon purple glowing narrow rim. The nose is dark as a moonless night too, brimming with blackberry liqueur, molasses, and violets. Spices too including sweet ones we bake with. It’s exotically savory, refreshingly herbal, and thrillingly delicious. It just does not compare to anything else we ever had really, such a singular expression of the varietal. We like the idea of pairing it with ‘Pata Negra’ the famous hand carved Jamón Ibérico de Bellota leg, and the most aged Manchego you can find, with a crunchy, warm loaf of bread. Mmm… heaven!

When the Wine Advocate wrote “this is an incredible wine for the price asked” they were talking about the release price, not HALF OFF that. At our best anywhere price, it’s a no-brainer as a wine that needs to be tasted to be believed. Too bad we got very little.

98 Points – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

“I tasted the 2019 and 2020 vintages from Casa Castillo, the leading producer in Jumilla and the Mediterranean and among the best in Spain. 2020 was a classic Mediterranean vintage there, with a rainy spring and very dry and hot summer. Budding and harvest happened on normal dates. A rain of 40 liters per square meter at the end of August changed everything, slowing down ripening, raising the relative humidity of the environment, lowering night temperatures and directing the harvest toward excellence. Their 2020s represent the finest wines they have produced since they started in 1991. Even the musts showed balance and elegance, and that continued throughout the fermentation and upbringing of the wines that are elegant and fine, with less color and extraction than normal but with great character and depth. It has the Casa Castillo style, austere, mineral with an absence of fruit, with depth and character. Furthermore, all the labels also changed to a more stylish image with the 2020 vintage. 2020 is an exceptional vintage here, the finest they have ever produced. The phenomenal 2020 Las Gravas was produced with 92% Monastrell from 30- to 40-year-old vines on north-facing gravel soils (hence its name) complemented with 8% Garnacha. It fermented with 30% full clusters and indigenous yeasts in underground stone lagares and matured in a combination of 500-liter barrel and 5,000-liter foudres for 16 months. It has classical parameters, 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.47 and 4.87 grams of acidity per liter. The wine is super perfumed and floral, really showy, elegant, nuanced and refined, with the notes of pine needles and wet soil much subtler than in the 2019. There is an ethereal character to the 2020s that I haven’t found in any previous vintage here, but at the same time, the wines are very mineral and have lots of energy and light. There is precision, cleanliness, definition and elegance like I hadn’t seen before and refined tannins with a pungent mineral sensation in the textured finish. This is an incredible wine for the price asked. 35,500 bottles produced. There was a single bottling in February 2022. Drink 2022-2035.”