In the arid hills of Murcia, Monastrell — France's Mourvèdre — gets the heat and light it rarely finds in France, ripening into deep, warm, brambly reds. Jumilla's sandy soils resisted phylloxera longer than almost anywhere in Europe, and gnarled old bush vines still blanket the plateau.
Long a source of cheap bulk wine, the region has been transformed by growers who tamed Monastrell's rusticity into supple, generous, fruit-forward reds of exceptional value. It is now the standard-bearer for serious Spanish Mourvèdre.