2012 Solanera Vinas Viejas, Bodega Castano

Based in Yecla, Familia Castaño is known for its huge efforts to promote one of Spain’s native varieties, Monastrell. Castaño symbolises the best of what southern Spain has to offer: rich, warm-climate wines, with almost Syrah-like complexity, which overdeliver in terms of value year after year. Monastrell was once used exclusively for bulk wines and blending, but Castaño began bottling characterful, single-varietal Monastrell in the 1980s. Today, in the expert hands of Daniel Castaño and his family, the variety maintains high quality even at moderate to generous yields. 80% of the family’s 600 hectares of vineyards are dedicated to Monastrell, with smaller plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Macabeo and Chardonnay among others. The Monastrell is sourced from dry-farmed, bush and trellised vines up to 70 years old in the ‘Las Gruesas’ and ‘Pozuelo’ vineyards. Totalling 336 hectares, the two vineyards are located at an altitude of 750 metres, with a north-south aspect, on sandy limestone soils.