Alto Moncayo Grenache - $52.99

Wine Details

Vintage: 2009
Price: $52.99
Producer: Alto Moncayo
Region: Aragón
Varietal: Grenache
Container Size: 750 ML
Flavors: cherry, dark fruit, mocha, raspberry, rose, vanilla
  • Red Wine
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Product Description

  • winemaker's notes: "The estate's mid-level effort is the fairly priced Alto Moncayo. This wine is spectacular, and represents the perfect foil for grilled steak. Even richer, fuller, and more muscular than the 2003, with riveting intensity and palate staining extract, the 2004 Alto Moncayo is inky/purple, full-bodied, and rich. This pedal-to-the-metal offering should age handsomely for a decade." -Wine Advocate

Expert Ratings

Ratings   Vintage Source Flavors
Tanzer - 92(+?) Details: ($45; 100% garnacha) Opaque ruby. Ripe raspberry and cherry aromas are complicated by fresh rose, vanilla and mocha. Deeply concentrated and slow to open, offering deep, liqueur-like red and dark fruit character. Supple tannins add structure to this exotic, youthful fruit bomb, which finishes bright and clingy. Needs a couple years of bottle aging. 2005 Tanzer cherry, dark fruit, mocha, raspberry, rose, vanilla
WineSpectator - 91 Details: Rich yet lithe, this red is plush yet remains graceful and nervy, thanks to the energy of its acidity. There's plenty of cocoa and spice from oak, but it's the blackberry and cassis fruit that lingers. Drink now through 2012. 600 cases made. –TM 2005 WineSpectator
Tanzer - 92 Details: ($43) Inky violet. Powerful oak tones atop ripe dark berry and cherry liqueur aromas. Fat, viscous and deep, with wonderfully sweet blackberry fruit and sexy accents of licorice, vanilla and oak spice. This handles the aggressive oak treatment far more successfully than the 2003 version did. Finishes long, on a lush note of candied dark berries. 2004 Tanzer berry, blackberry, candied, cherry, dark berries, licorice, oak, spice, vanilla, violet
Tanzer - 91 Details: ($22) Dark ruby. Intensely floral aromas of vibrant cherry, boysenberry and cola. Lush, round and supple, the dark fruit flavors showing a strong oak influence but possessing the concentration and vivacity to carry it off. Pure, mineral-tinged, long finish features impressively persistent sweet berry flavors. 2004 Tanzer berry, boysenberry, cherry, cola, dark fruit, oak
Tanzer - 89 Details: ($43; 100% garnacha, from 35-to-92-year-old vines) Bright red. Powerful, oak-laced raspberry, strawberry and cherry preserves on the nose, plus a hint of candied licorice. Deep and sweet, the red berry flavors strongly accented by oak notes of coconut, vanilla and clove. Finishes sweet, deep and long. This is clearly made from strong material, but I'd love to have seen it without so much oak. 2003 Tanzer candied, cherry, clove, coconut, licorice, oak, raspberry, red berry, strawberry, vanilla
WineSpectator - 87 Details: Chocolate, tobacco and prune flavors are powerful and a bit decadent in this heady red. Very expressive, but lacks a bit of freshness. Drink now through 2009. 775 cases made. –TM 2003 WineSpectator
Tanzer - 90 Details: ($36; 100% garnacha) Medium ruby-red. Sappy black cherry and black raspberry aromas complicated by chocolate, minerals and tar. Sweet, lush and seamless, with a pinot-like silkiness of texture. Still a bit shy following the recent bottling but large-scaled and mouthfilling, with sound balancing acidity. Distinctly exotic in its flavors but not yet complex. A wine to follow. 2002 Tanzer black cherry, chocolate, minerals, raspberry, tar
WineSpectator - 82 Details: Coffee, plum and meat flavors are dark and spicy in this round red. The sweet oak and ripe fruit give it a candied note. Drink now. 18,000 cases made. –TM 2002 WineSpectator candied, coffee, meat, oak, plum, ripe fruit, spicy

Food Pairings

Category Pairing
Cheese Sharp Cheddar, Goat Cheese, Soft Pungent Cheese
Red Meat Beef Stew, Ham, Barbeque Pulled-Pork or Ribs, Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Wild Game - Elk, Caribou, Moose, Venison, Spicy Sausage
Poultry & Eggs Coq Au Vin, Roast Chicken with Herbs, Roast Turkey
Vegetables Artichokes, White Aspargus with Mustard Vinagrette, Beans, Green, Beans, White, Carrots
Fruits & Nuts Dates, Figs & Raisins
Vegetables Mushrooms
Fruits & Nuts Almonds, Hazelnuts
Vegetables Roasted Sweet Peppers, Potatoes, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Swiss chard or Kale, Tomato, Gazpacho, Vegetable Gratin or Stew
Herbs & Spices Cilantro, Coriander, Cinnamon, Cumin, Saffron
Cheese Aged Cheddar

Wine Terms

Name Value
Grenache Originally from Spain, this grape comes in both red-wine and white-wine varieties and is often associated with France’s southern Rhone Valley. The Grenache grape does well in hot, dry regions, and its strong stalk makes it well suited for windy conditions. It ripens with very high sugar levels and can produce wines with high alcohol content. Grenache wines are sweet, fruity, and very low in tannins. They are usually lacking in color, except in growing areas where yields are low. In Spain Grenache is widely planted in Navarra as well as in many of the hotter areas of the country. In southern France Grenache is widely cultivated in the areas around Languedoc- RoussillonRousellon, Provence, and the southern Rhone. It is also extensively grown in Algeria, Australia, Corsica, Israel, Morocco, Sardinia and California's central valley. Red Grenache wines are usually blended with other varieties: trempranillo in Spain and cinsaut and carignan in France. It’s the primary grape in chateauneuf-du-pape as well as in several rose wines.
Spain This mountainous country possesses more vineyard land than any other country on earth, and ranks third in wine production after France and Italy. Spain is best known for its red Riojas and its Sherries, however other wines and regions are quickly gaining notoriety. Like France, Spain divides wine into categories; table wine at the bottom level and quality wine at the top, with a large emphasis on geographical origin. VdM (Vino de Mesa) is a basic table wine. VC (Vino Comarcal) wines are a level up. VdlT (Vino de la Tierra) refers to one of the country’s 25 distinct regions, and each wine possesses a local character. At the top level, only about fifty wines are considered DO (Denominacion de Origen). These wines come from the best-known regions and are the equivalent of France’s Appellation Contrôlée. DOC (Denominacion de Origen Calificada) is reserved for wines that adhere to the most stringent regulations. So far, Rioja is the only wine to gain the Calificada classification.

Tasting Notes

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