Drinks of the Month

Macedonio Finca del Regajo Monastrell Joven 2012

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on March 21 2015 at 08:14

Those of you who read the Guardian will have spotted that I’ve devoted this week’s column to independent wine merchants but here’s a slightly different business model from a firm called Dashing Wines which bills itself as offering ‘estate wines at everyday prices’.

Instead of holding regular stocks they select a range of wines every two months which get shipped direct from the producer which obviously keeps costs down

The current offer which ends on March 30th (with wines shipped during the week beginning April 20th) includes selections from Bordeaux and south-west France and Spain. I tried some of the Spanish ones and picked out this absolute bargain monastrell (mourvèdre) from Castilla which is selling off the site for £47.70 a case of six or £7.95 a bottle + £4.95 delivery if you order fewer than 12 bottles*. With its smart contemporary label it looks a lot more expensive than that.

Interestingly I discovered that the winemaker had spent time in Chile, Argentina and New Zealand - and it does have that new world generosity of fruit and polish but without being at all jammy. The vines are grown at 700m which lends a real freshness to the wine. The vineyards are in organic conversion.

Unusually for Spain the oak isn’t overdone - the wine was aged on its lees in French and Hungarian oak for 4 months which adds richness rather than tannin.

A generous full-bodied (14.5%) red to take you through these last nippy days of spring and into the barbecue season. I’m not a big one for the term 'lipsmacking' but this wine certainly is.

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