Enrique Mendoza Las Quebradas Monastrell 2016

The 2016 Las Quebradas was cropped from a very different yearn than the 2017, and the two vintages compared together show very different profiles, which was also the case with the other single-vineyard Monastrell, Estrecho. It fermented in a combination of square oak vats and open-top barriques in a kind of infusion, avoiding too much extraction, and it matured in French oak barrels. There is a little more rusticity in the 2016s, and even the oak seems a little more evident here. There is a little more tannin and concentration, but the wines are not aggressive —here is power with control. The vinification has been fine-tuned in the last few years; it's a lot softer and respects the character of the grape, vintage and soil more. LUIS GUTIERREZ