Al-Muvedre Tinto Monastrell
We also have Mediterranean dreams…
Al-Muvedre was born from our trip to Levante, the cradle of the Monastrell variety (Morvedre).
The president of the International Wine Academy, Dr Parce, once told us that the best Mourvedre (also known as Monastrell) he had ever tasted was from Alicante. Inspired, we travelled to the region and fell in love with the old, forgotten vines and rich viticultural history.
A region previously celebrated for the production of ´rancio´ (sweet wine), the village of Villena seemed to belong to a different era, to a world inter-twined with the history of winemaking, where boats would leave their ports laden with barrels of wine, ready to travel, and be traded across the world. When sweet wines fell out fashion, and phylloxera eventually arrived, the region´s success came to a sharp halt.
We attempted to acquire a pretty little vineyard, to work and understand it. In the end it wasn’t possible and so we decided to produce a good, simple wine, as in the days of the great wine traders. Perhaps our Al-Muvedre is a homage to them.
We will always regret that we did not produce a great Monastrell wine in that vineyard. That's the way trips are sometimes, and that's how our adventure in Alicante has been.