Unusually this blend is 90% Garnacha (Grenache) (with some Tempranillo and Mazuela.) It spends 15 months in French oak and displays rich black fruit, herbal characteristics. Crowd pleasing but impressive Rioja. On the palate is very velvety with good acidity and a well-balanced oak.

Palacios Remondo is a family-owned winery based in Alfaro, in Rioja Oriental, the warmest and most easterly part of the Rioja appellation. The soils here are silty and alluvial and the semi-arid Mediterranean climate is well-suited to growing Garnacha, a variety that is finally coming back into the foreground in this region, after decades of being supplanted by the more popular Tempranillo.

After making his name in Priorat and Bierzo, Álvaro Palacios returned to his ancestral home in Rioja and took over the winemaking reigns at Palacios Remondo. Álvaro is one of the high-profile winemakers (along with Telmo Rodriguez) determined to champion Garnacha, particularly from old bush vines. The organically-farmed La Montesa vineyard is testament to what this variety is capable of, in the right hands. Situated on the hillsides of Monte Yerga, this vineyard produces fragrant and aromatically-intense wines, with a lightness that is often Pinot-esque.

Alvaro Palacios was voted Decanter Magazine’s Man of the Year (M 2015).

La Montesa is a food-friendly wine that goes with just about anything: burgers, barbecue, tapas, paella, grilled meats.