The 2010 Alfynal is pure Monastrell from very old vineyards, different plots ranging from 35 to 70 years of age located between 500 and 700 meters above sea level with very low yields. It has a beautiful nose of smoke, blackberries, star anise and well-integrated, fine-grained tannins, very supple. It has the balance and harmony of great wines. It improves with time in the glass; it has very good acidity, while the fruit is properly ripe. This is a very serious effort, elegant and rustic at the same time, which is a textbook example of great Monastrell. 9,700 bottles produced. Drink 2014-2022. As the name points out, this is a new project from ex-Cos d’Estournel, Bruno Prats. As Prats told me when I had the chance to meet him in Alicante a few weeks ago, he had had a fixation with Monastrell since he was studying oenology at Montpellier in 1967, where he used to listen to Professor Jean Brana rave about the quality and potential of the old Monastrell vineyards of Alicante, where the variety originates. He had looked into possibilities before, but in 2008 he returned to Alicante searching for space for his boat. At the same time, young French winemaker Stephane Point, who had been working in the Chryseia project in Portugal, was ready to move to a Spanish-speaking country. The two joined forces and Point moved to Alicante with his family to produce the wines in early 2009. They hired some space in a winery, brought their own equipment there and managed to make 15,000 bottles of wine in the 2009 vintage. They do not own any vineyards, but source grapes from different suppliers. The grapes are destalked after passing through a selection table, and everything, grapes, must and wine are moved exclusively by gravity. Fermentation is by plot, in small stainless steel tanks with temperature control, and the upbringing is mostly in used 400-liter French oak barrels for 12 to 14 months. The name of the grand vin, (as a good Bordeaux guy he also has a second wine) Alfynal, is a promise to his wife that this would be his final project, as he’s already in joint-ventures in Chile, Portugal and South Africa. I found the 2010s very compact and assembled, especially for Mosyca. 2010 was more Mediterranean for Stephane, everything was easier, and the assemblage works well with the four grapes. Importer: HP Selection LLC, New York, NY; no telephone number available.