Stop by 3CUPS and pick up a bottle of our new Monastrell if you've been good all week (went to work, fed the kids) and deserve a reward with your dinner. 

I wanted to write about our new Spanish red because it needs some PR help. The label really does a fair amount to obscure what this wine is. It is cryptic. It looks like something Real Madrid would wear for away matches. Decorative cursive script says “Primitivo Quiles” but the grape is not Primitivo from the imaginary land of Quiles, it is Monastrell. Old-vine, low-yield Monastrell. This red grape is the true star of Alicante, capable of producing full-flavored intense wines in the warmth of southeastern Spain. And just ignore the word “brut” on the upper right-hand corner of the label. This wine is dry, but it does not fizz.

The family seem stuck on the name Primitivo. They have been making wine in Alicante since 1780. Multiple generations of the protagonists at this estate have been Primitivo: today brothers Primitivo and Francisco Quiles give the venerable estate direction. There is real tradition to protect here: kings of France drank their ancestor’s wine. Today the winery is a landmark that draws attention to the emerging high-quality wines of Alicante.

Alicante hugs the coast of Spain east of Jumilla and Yecla, and just south of the island of Ibiza. There is an enthusiastic audience for the low-price everyday wines of this Mediterranean area, and the bulk reds grown in its warm, humid vineyards are definitely the backbone of the local wine economy. Gradually more of Alicante’s wine is being bottled instead of being sold in bulk, and there is a slow decline in the production of truly mediocre high-volume juice in the area. So things are looking up for lovers of quality wine from southeastern Spain.