The Small Wine Review

Wrongo Dongo Monastrell, 2008 — Jumilla, Spain.  15% alcohol by volume.  $9.   Monastrell was a grape unfamiliar to us until we hit Wikipedia and found out that only the rather obscure wine making  regions of Jumilla and Yecla in Spain call it Monastrell.  The rest of the world calls this grape by its more familiar name, Mourvedre.  The book said to look for black fruits, spices & leather.  What we found was a deep violet colored wine with a  slightly earthy nose, reminiscent of a pleasant barnyard memory.  The fruits were muted at best and any spices we found could well be just the heat of the 15% alcohol in the wine.  The finish lingered for a while with moderate tannins and a good firm structure overall.  On the whole, we recognize that this is probably a reasonable representative of the varietal, and it is probably well constructed, but it did not give us the forward fruit that the American palate seems to enjoy these days and overall left us wanting to open a different bottle of wine.  For price and technical merit, we give it 4 Stars — Recommended but we temper that rating with the admonition that you should try this wine on your own before you take it to a friend’s house for dinner.