Casa Castillo - Jumilla 'Castillo x Envinate Micrit' Monastrell - 2018

The 2018 Micrit was cropped from a more continental vintage with a slow ripening of the grapes, to the point that 2018 was the latest harvest in the last 30 years. Their knowledge of the vineyard has increased, and the vintage was more challenging than 2017, but in 2017, they might have picked a little late, as this 2018 shows more freshness and precision. It's an ungrafted 80+-year-old vineyard on sandy gravel and limestone soils that contain micrites, a specific limestone formation that gives the wine and project its name. They fermented it with part of full clusters with indigenous yeasts, the two parts of the vineyard separately and harvested earlier and matured in used 500-liter oak barrels. It has a bright ruby color and a subtle and elegant nose, insinuating, clean and focused, with bright fruit coming out after some time in the glass. This is a huge improvement over the first vintage, and they told me this is the profile they had in mind, with very fine tannins, great purity of flavors, chalky minerality and a long and tasty finish. It should develop nicely in bottle because of its terrific balance and stuffing. A very elegant Monastrell. 94 Points Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate