The young and unoaked 2014 Moscatel de la Marina will be bottled in January 2015, a month after my tasting. They like it in its youth when the fruit is upfront and feels exuberant and juicy. This was cropped from a very dry vintage with a warm harvest, then the musts were fortified to 15% leaving it to be bottled with 68 grams of sugar. 15,000 bottles.

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

Orange blossom and honeycomb flavors mingle in this plush, sweet white, balanced by fresh acidity through the spicy finish. Drink now. 250 cases made.??–TM??Region: Spain / Alicante Select to Add

The 2011 Moscatel de la Marina has a fresh nose of sea foam, white peach and grapefruit. The palate is fresh and vibrant on the entry with peach and apricot counterbalanced by a thread of sour lemon that pokes through towards the toffee-tinged finish. Drink now. Importer: Winebow; www.winebow.com

Enrique-Mendoza also produces a sweet 100% Moscatel fermented and aged in tank. Dried apricots, honey, and creme brulee aromas inform the nose of this tasty elixir. In the glass tropical notes, especially key lime, emerge leading to a round, smooth finish. Drink it over the next 1-2 years. Importer: Winebow, New York, NY; www.winebow.com