Product Review
The 2011 Tarima Hill is made from old vine Mourvedre grown at a high elevation of 2,000-2,500 feet. Aged 20 months in French oak, its sensational inky/purple color is followed by a sweet bouquet of acacia flowers, blueberry liqueur, blackberries and graphite, and a full-bodied, rich mouthfeel. This sensational red wine could easily sell for three to five times the price with no complaints. It should age easily for another 5-6 years.
Bodegas Volver, a joint venture between importer Jorge Ordonez and Rafael Canizares, produces wines from huge holdings of 252 acres in La Mancha, 457 acres in Alicante and 125 acres in Jumilla. Some of the wines are fashioned from organic grapes, which is made clear on the label.
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).
Alicante is located in the Valencia administrative region in eastern Spain. It is situated in the south-eastern corner of the country, bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Alicante is also the name of the province south of Valencia city, and along with the designation, derives its name from the historic port city of Alicante. The region was awarded DO status in 1957 and a Consejo Regulador (wine authority) was established. These days, it has the reputation of 'specializing' in mass-produced wines, but there are a few notable exceptions.
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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.
