They are going for lower yields and less bottles of the 2020 La Montesa and slowly putting prices up, as they feel the wine is more serious than what the perception of the affordable price makes it. 2020 is a powerful vintage; it's structured and textured, the oak is very nicely integrated (12 months in barrel, but the powerful wine absorbed it completely), and it's powerful with 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.55, a little darker than in previous years. The tannins are very fine with a subtle chalky texture. There were 2,319 barrels that resulted in 672,000 bottles, 10,000 magnums and some larger and smaller formats. It was bottled from April 2022.

The organic Garnacha 2019 La Montesa fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel vats and matured in barriques for 12 months. As it was very recently bottled, I tasted from two bottles, one uncorked the day before and the other uncorked just before the tasting. The bottle from the day before was more expressive in the nose, but I also liked the austerity of the just-opened bottle. The wine is concentrated and powerful, richer and more concentrated than the 2018, with more density and ripe flavors. It has a medium-bodied palate with very fine tannins. The 800,000 kilos of grapes were hand harvested and selected, trying to avoid very ripe grapes to control the degrees of alcohol, with natural acidity, and the wine is lively and pure, with measured oak. The colors in all the reds are bright ruby, not too dark, and the fruit is red rather than black, despite the warmer and drier year. It has the very fine tannins of the Garnacha in limestone soils. 660,600 bottles and 10,000 magnums produced.

The quality/price champion 2018 La Montesa is now 100% Garnacha from organically farmed vineyards from the 100-hectare family property that gives the wine its name. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel vats and matured in barriques, 85% of them produced with French oak and the rest with American oak. It feels very young, and the oak is still present; and the American oak, which is spicy and smoky, with ashy incense and vanilla with some sweet undertones, gives it a character that brings back the character of the traditional wines from yesteryear in a very clean way. It has vibrant freshness and should develop nicely with a couple of years in bottle. It has great purity and typicity, less Mediterranean than the 2017, nicely textured, velvety. I think the breakthrough vintage for this wine was 2015. This has all the grapes that would have been used for the Propiedad label, which was not bottled separately in 2018. It carries the EU organic-farming label. It's quite impressive for the quantity they produce—700,000 bottles. They started bottling in April 2020 from a single master blend. I tasted one of the first bottles.

The 2017 La Montesa is mostly Garnacha with some 8% other red varieties and comes from a warm and dry year that saw a very early harvest, up to 20 days earlier than usual. It fermented in stainless steel and matured in barrique for 12 months. It feels very Mediterranean, with notes of Mediterranean herbs and ripe berries. It's juicy and lush, round and very pleasant, easy to drink. 670,000 bottles produced and will be labeled organic, very remarkable for such volume. It was bottled in May 2019.

I returned to the 2016 La Montesa once it had been in bottle for almost eight months. It has all the rosemary, thyme and aromatic plants in the Monte Yerga in Alfaro. It has a note of incense. It's super juicy Garnacha with citrus freshness. It's incredible to have this quality at this price and almost unbelievable that they produced 690,000 bottles of it. A steal!