2002 Alto Moncayo - Aquilon Grenache - Spain - Aragon - Campo de Borja - Red

Full-bodied, deep colored grenache. Somewhat astringent at the finish. Good wine for a barbecue. Not as good as the 2004 or 2005.

Wow, really over the top, too much everything. This one was hard to swallow. Guess I lean more towards old world, not my style. Perhaps a few more years in the bottle will help, but I can't see how.

Hello ? this wine just keeps growing and growing in the glass. I half expect it go over the sides as I sit here staring at it. Deeply colored with moderately pigmented slow moving legs. A strong nose of burgeoning, complex aromas of smoke, black licorice, deeply concentrated plum, some caramel, a bit of heat (but I can live with it considering how much else this wine brings to the table), a touch of spicy leather, black pepper, and controlled wood. Plush with excellent length. Tannins are completely drowned out by the wine?s concentration but make their slightly drying presence felt in the end. Plenty of acidity and one wishes it was better integrated. A dead ringer for a Sine Qua Non Grenache. Alto Moncayo is a new wine project from Jorge Ordonez (a Spanish wine importer deservedly well known for the quality of his products), Dan Philips (Marquis-Philips et al), and Chris Ringland (Three Rivers/Chris Ringland Shiraz). Aquil?n is their top end bottling. It is 100% Garnacha (Grenache) sourced from a small 125 year old ungrafted vineyard located at 750 to 900 meters above sea level. Malolactic fermentation was completed in all new French and American barrels and the wine was bottled without filtration.