Juan Gil Bruto Monastrell 2023

Juan Gil Bruto Monastrell comes from the Juan Gil winery in D.O. Jumilla, founded in 1916 and now run by the family's fourth generation. Jumilla lies on a high plateau in inland Murcia, one of Spain's hottest and driest wine regions, where Monastrell thrives on poor limestone soils under intense sun. The altitude brings cool nights that retain freshness, while the heat and low yields concentrate the small, thick skinned berries into a wine of depth and power. The grapes ferment in stainless steel for around twenty-five days under temperature control, a long maceration that extracts colour, tannin and dark fruit from the skins. The wine then ages for twenty-four months in French and American oak, where the extended time on wood rounds the tannins and layers in spice, toast and a chocolate richness. At 15.5 percent the wine is full bodied and intense, deeply coloured, with ripe plum and black cherry on the nose over black pepper, liquorice and dark chocolate. The palate is dense and warming, the tannins ripe, the finish long. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees with grilled red meat, slow cooked lamb or robust stews.