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Reviews

94 -Robert Parker's Wine Advocate -

Technical Details

  • Blend 100% Grenache
  • Winemaker José María Vicente
  • Country Spain
  • Region Murcia-Castilla-La Mancha
  • Appellation Jumilla
  • Farming Method Certified Organic
  • Oak neutral 500L French oak demi-muids and foudres
  • Fermentation fermented with native yeast in concrete tanks
  • Aging / Cooperage aged for 14 months in neutral 500L French oak demi-muids and foudres
  • Alcohol 14.5%
  • Production approximately 3,330 cases

Casa Castillo El Molar Jumilla 2021

Grenache | Murcia-Castilla-La Mancha

WA94

SPECIAL: Ground shipping included on 6+ bottles!

Certified Organic

$32.00

$21.95

750ML

31% OFF RETAIL!

If there’s one thing to know about me, it’s that I will put rosemary in just about anything. That earthy, woodsy, peppery savor can turn a regular roast chicken, a pot pie, even a French omelette into something ethereal. So when I heard that Casa Castillo began as a rosemary farm in Spain’s arid southeast, I was already in. Then I tried this herbaceous, crunchy, red-fruited Grenache for $22, and I doubled down on my devotion.

The backstory is equally as great. When José Maria Vicente’s grandfather bought the property in 1941, a winery, a cellar, and some scattered vineyards were already there – dating to the 1870s, when French refugees fleeing phylloxera planted them. José Maria and his father began replanting and expanding in 1985, and by 1991 they were bottling their first commercial vintage. Today the estate is certified organic, and the vines are dry farmed through that torrid summer heat.

Jumilla, Spain, is best known for Monastrell, the grape the French call Mourvèdre, and Casa Castillo built its reputation on it, but El Molar is the exception. It is a pure Garnacha (Grenache), which thrives in warm Mediterranean climates. The wine is named for the mountain that looks over the property, and the 2021 comes from a selection of vineyards on gravel, sandy, and calcareous soils. This wine is often critically compared to Châteauneuf-du-Pape with its dusty Mediterranean brush and red fruit notes, and the soils in both places are strikingly similar.

My notes: Everything I love about good Grenache is present here… balanced but charismatic red fruit (cherry, raspberry, plum) along with a little lavender and violet lift, followed by Mediterranean herbs and scrub brush, with a subtly spicy, cinnamony finish. It’s almost chalky in texture but also smooth, medium-bodied, and easy to sip.

A really striking red wine, especially considering the price of a hair under $22. I think I’ll pair this with my next rosemary-crusted rack of lamb, or rosemary focaccia, just to pay homage. Take home a few for your fall table, and get your own rosemary part started! Or just sip it before dinner, after dinner… whenever. It’s that good of a wine, and that good of a price.

About The Producer

Well-trodden paths like Highway 29 in Napa, RN74 in Burgundy or the Mosel River in Germany are obvious vinous routes that have been signposted and gentrified over decades but not Jumilla. Parched, bleak and seemingly barren under the heat of midsummer there are only the faintest hints of civilization, usually in the form of an isolated sign, a decaying old farm house or the random fellow traveler rushing to get out of the sun. Jumilla is about roughing it, about getting to know farmers and their families and if you’re lucky being invited into their homes to share a meal. It’s a place worth getting lost in. If you’ve played your cards right, the person inviting you to Jumilla is José Maria Vicente. José Maria is a third generation owner and operator of Casa Castillo a farm that began as a rosemary plantation but one that has evolved into the preeminent estate in the DO of Jumilla. While the smell of rosemary still lingers in the air, the pale, rocky soils surrounding his house and cellar are now planted with vines and almond orchards. When José Maria’s grandfather purchased Casa Castillo in 1941 there was already a winery, cellar and some scattered vineyards on the property dating to the 1870s, established by French refugees fleeing the plight of phylloxera in their native land. In 1985 José and his father began to replant the vineyards and expand them with the goal of making wine on the property. In 1991 they bottled their first commercial vintage.

$32.00

$21.95

750ML