Bodegas Castano Hecula Monastrell 2008

So, I'm re-visiting the 2008 Monastrell that we featured intensely during the 2010 Christmas season. I've been sitting on this one intentionally, storing it away in my wine cooler wondering what might be happening inside the bottle.

The first time I had this wine was at the beginning of last November, so it's had a solid 5 months aging- not much time according to typical aging standards, but enough to definitely change the juice inside. The flavors I remember from then were definitely much brighter. The fruit, which is fairly intense, was much less ripe. Imagine eating a blackberry just a few days before its peak ripeness- good, but still a little less complex and impressive than you would like.

The flavors have certainly evolved a bit, as the wine has developed a little more complexity. The blackberries and black cherries are still there, as they were before, but they've mutated from the happy, cheerful level of last November to a moderately more mature and cultured level. The acidity is still there, not too out of balance but perhaps a bit much for my personal taste. I'm definitely getting some acid reverb in the sinuses as I swallow, and there seems to be something missing from the mid-palate on this wine. The acidity dominates this part of the experience for me.

It's hard for me to say if this wine has gotten better. I was definitely attracted to the playfulness of the fruit when I tried it for the first time. It was explosive on the palate, a bit surprising and definitely alluring. I'm missing that a bit now. The tannic structure is still there, leading me to still have hope for the next bottle that I have laying on its side, patiently awaiting its turn to be opened. I should probably hold off another 8 months or so, because if this one matures as well as its 2007 predecessor, then there are definitely good things ahead.

Speaking of, there is a bottle of the 2007 vintage in the wine cooler as well. I'm terrified of opening it because I don't know that I can get my hands on another. Will it be too soon? Too late? Will I miss the wine's prime? Unfortunately, the only way to know is to open the bottle and try it. And because I may never see another of the '07 vintage, I'll have nothing to compare it to going forward. So, as I always attempt to do, I'll simply have to enjoy it in the moment for what it is, rather than being distracted by what it was or what it could be!