Hi Peg & Rick!
Attached is some information about the Spanish wine which I was telling you about at Ralph's 4th-of-July party yesterday.
It is a "monastrell" packaged under the Shania name by the Gil Family of Spain in the
Denominacion de Origen of
Jumilla:
I purchased it at Gary's Liquors in the Chestnut Hill Village shopping center for $14.99 for a 3-liter box.
Prior to spotting this on the shelf at Gary's, I had never heard of the "monastrell" grape. According to the attached pdf:
Monastrell is grown in several parts of Spain and in France. While its true origin is not known, it first became established in Cataluña where it took on the names Mourvèdre (after Muviedro, the Moorish name for the city of Sagunto, near Valencia) and Mataró (after Mataró in Cataluña). In Cataluña the grape was grown by monasteries, leading to the name Monastrell (from the Latin monasteriellu) in that region. From Spain the grape made its way to Mediterranean France where it became a principal blending component of Châteauneuf-du-Pape as well as acquiring fame on its own in Bandol. Today, Monastrell is the 5th most popular varietal in Spain in terms of acreage planted.
IMHO, this wine is a real bargain. And Spain's Gil family who make this wine in Jumilla have been very creative in "bottling" it in a box so that one can have a glass and keep the rest of the container without harm for several weeks. (As the mylar bag inside the box collapses, air does not enter and hence the wine does not oxydize or lose its volatile components.)
I believe it is widely distributed and you should be able to find it nearby.
