Mourvedre (Monastrell in its native Spain, Mataro in Australia and California) is a black-skinned variety that has been grown in vineyards all around the western Mediterranean for centuries. Thought to have originated in Spain, it is now grown extensively throughout the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, California and South Australia. Mourvedre likes warm, dry climates and has small, thick-skinned berries – the textbook combination for making wines with intense color and high tannin levels. In fact, it is the variety's mouth-drying tannins that earned it the French nickname Etrangle-Chien (the dog strangler).
La Mancha is the largest delimited wine region not only in Spain, but in the whole of Europe. Occupying almost one half of the large Castilla-La Mancha region, the La Mancha viticultural area covers a vast expanse of the central Iberian plateau, and is bordered by Valencia and Murcia to the east, Extremadura to the west, Andalucia to the south and Madrid to the north-west. There are more than 500,000 acres (202,350ha) of vineyard here, spread over 182 municipalities and four provinces (Albacete, Cuenca, Ciudad Real and Toledo).
NULL
Red wine is wine made from dark-coloured grape varieties. The color of red differs based on the grapes variety or varieties used.Interestingly, black grapes yield a juice that is greenish-white. The actual red color comes from anthocyan pigments (also called anthocyanins) from the skin of the grape (exceptions are the relatively uncommon teinturier varieties, which produce a red colored juice). Most of the production centers around the extraction of color and flavor from the grape skin.
