The 2012 Moscatel De La Marina is the young Moscatel from the winery, a fortified sweet wine bottled very early to preserve the fresh fruit aromas. It’s very pale-colored with a clean nose of mint, apricots and white flowers, good balance between acidity, sweetness and bitterness. A very pleasant sweet, fruity Moscatel, with 93 grams of sugar. It represents very good value. Drink 2013-2014. Enrique Mendoza, a salesman in love with wine, started planting some vines in l’Alfas del Pi, very close to Benidorm, where his house and original business was located, in the 1960s. But it’s not until 1989 that his hobby was turned into a proper winery and Bodegas Enrique Mendoza were created. The Marina Baja area, close to the sea, is appropriate for growing Moscatel, but it’s not so good for red grapes, so he purchased a property inland, in the Vinalopo Valley, Finca Chaconero in Villena, where they have 80 hectares of vineyards. The focus was initially on French varieties (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Petit Verdot and Shiraz), but in 2003 they started producing one of the best examples of Monastrell from the region, called Estrecho. Today Enrique’s sons, Pepe and Julian are at the helm of the company. They are so passionate about their vineyards (especially Pepe) and their wines that talking to them fills you with positive energy. The focus is clearly on viticulture, which to me is the right approach. They produce 350,000 bottles per year spread over a very wide range, which I find a little confusing, but I’m happy to see more and more attention being paid to Monastrell. I was especially impressed by (yet another) new wine called Las Quebradas. A few of their wines were reviewed last October in issue #203. Importer: Winebow Inc, Montvele, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620