La Purísima 'Estio' Monastrell / Syrah 2021

Monastrell (Mourvèdre) leads with Syrah for spice. Dark fruit, herbal lift, soft tannin. Mediterranean Spanish.

Bodegas La Purísima is the co-operative of Yecla, a small wine town in the Murcia region. Local farmers founded it in 1946, and more than a thousand member families now farm about sixty per cent of the entire Yecla appellation. Monastrell is their grape. The co-op even keeps around 100 hectares of ungrafted vines, growing on their own roots in the dry soil.

Estío comes from organically farmed vineyards, certified by Murcia's ecological agriculture board. The sun does most of the work here. The climate is hot and dry, so the fruit ripens fully without much help.

Open it with lamb chops, chorizo or anything off the grill. It drinks best young, and a slight chill suits it in summer.