A vineyard in Jumilla, a wine region of southeastern Spain that's known for its monastrell.Fernando Bustamante/The Associated Press
The Grape Glossary: a guide to hip varietals
Valencia has made two great contributions to global gastronomy. Regrettably, you'll find just one touted in the travel guides. That would be paella, Spain's national dish and the best excuse anywhere to crack open a dry rosé. The other is monastrell, a centuries-old vine that ranks up there with tempranillo and garnacha among the country's most cherished and widely planted reds. Not only do few people know where monastrell came from, I suspect most wine lovers would mistake it as French. After all, it's far better known by its adopted alias on the other side of the Pyrenees, mourvèdre.
That bias is changing, though, as smart bargain hunters discover value-priced monastrells from such emerging regions as Jumilla and Yecla, both near the east coast, south of Valencia. An astringent, high-quality variety, monastrell tends to make full-bodied, high-alcohol wines with rich notes of plum and blackberry. They're the sort of gutsy beverages that lend themselves to hearty, meaty dishes, from regal leg of lamb to more rustic grilled sausages.
Popular though it's becoming, monastrell takes effort and the right conditions to transform into good wine. The vine needs ample heat and a long growing season to ripen fully, one reason it thrives in parched Spain. Averse to drought, however, it also performs best as an elder plant of 30-plus years or so, after its roots have successfully extended deep into the soil to secure a reliable yet moderate source of moisture.
Monastrell's sturdy, sometimes mouth-parching tannins helped seal its traditional fate as mainly a supporting player, providing backbone and antioxidant protection to red blends based heavily on easily bruised grenache as well as syrah. That's been the case across southern France, in such regions as the southern Rhône, Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon. It's also true of Australia and California, where the blends are fashionably dubbed "GSMs," the last initial sometimes short for "mataro," monastrell's other common synonym.
Fine Spanish examples of 100-per-cent monastrell or monastrell-led blends can be had for between $12 and $20, which is remarkable given the parsimonious fruit yield of many old vines in eastern Spain. Reliable producers include Bodegas Castano, Casa Castillo, Juan Gil, Bodegas Olivares and Vinessens.
If you like paella but are not into rosé, a hearty monastrell would not be entirely out of place with the rice-based dish. Just ask the chef to go easy on the seafood and pile on more chorizo sausage.
The Flavour Principle by Lucy Waverman and Beppi Crosariol (HarperCollins) won top prize for best general English cookbook at the 2014 Taste Canada Food Writing Awards.
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