Murcia

Murcia (Murcia) is one of the least known wine regions of Spain on the South-Eastern corner of the country. On the West it is bordered by Andalusia, on the North by Castilla-La Mancha, on the East by Valencia, and on the South by the Mediterranean sea.

This small administrative district consists of only one province with one administrative center, and they are also called Murcia.

A typical wine of Murcia is a powerful, often rough wine from monastrell with a fruity bouquet.

Monastries in addition, other important red varieties of the region are Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. White: macabeo, airen and merseguera (Merseguera).

Zone wine

In Murcia there are three areas DO (three of the appellation):

Bolas (Bullas DO)

Jumilla (DO Jumilla)

Yecla (Yecla DO)

And three partially overlapping zones of VT (Vino de la Tierra):

Murcia (Murcia VT)

Campo de Cartagena (Campo de Cartagena VT)

Abanilla (Abanilla VT)

The capital of the region was founded in the ninth century by the Emir of Cordoba and received the Arabic name of Medinat Mursiya, the value of which is in dispute, but there is a version that is derived either from the name of Myrtle (Myrtea) or mulberry (Murtae) – both of these tree common in the region.

Murcian landscape consists mostly of low mountains and dry coastal plains. The obvious exception is the Mar Menor (“little sea”) – a large salt lagoon on the border of the province with the Mediterranean sea. And the river Segura, which has scarce water in arid lands far from the sea. Along its shores there are many different agricultural lands, including vineyards.

The vines come from the Phoenicians in ancient times. Since that time, the reputation of the wine of the region of Murcia has experienced UPS and downs. Under the Romans the demand for it was high, and the local wine was appreciated. The second notable heyday was the late 19th century, when the French outbreak of phylloxera, and French wine makers were forced to get a drop-down yields in other European countries. Murcia became the clear choice because of their orientation to the variety monastrell, giving rich tannic wine, well suited for aging in barrels.

Unfortunately, then there was the usual story: winemakers chased by the quantity and quality went downhill. Today, however, among manufacturers, experimenting with varieties and modern techniques of winemaking, there are some decent exceptions from the gray mass balkovich wines of the region. And there is a tendency to increase the number and quality of samples.

In addition to the southern part of the DO Bullas, the wine area of Murcia is located a little inland of the Peninsula. Here are still feeling the effects of the Mediterranean climate, smoothing of the temperature extrema, but in a noticeably lesser extent than in coastal zones. On low-lying plains away from the sea daily summer temperatures of 45 degrees were not uncommon. So are the effects of dry hot mainland Spain. At higher elevations, however, the temperature is more gentle.

All these circumstances formed the predominant style of the wines of Murcia – powerful red for fans of “things rough”.

Source: wine-searcher.com /May 2019