Pepe Mendoza is the star winemaker of DO Alicante, on the southern part of Spain’s Mediterranean coast. He is responsible for his family’s label, named for his father, Enrique. Of late, he has also developed a smaller, personal project, in conjunction with his wife, Pepa.
Pepe Mendoza Casa Agricola represents a transition for Pepe, beyond what is possible in the larger family project. Specifically, the aim is to utilise the opportunity afforded by low-cropped old vines to make wines with minimal intervention.
The family property, PMCA is a mix of 12 hectares of coastal vineyard (Giró and Moscatel) in Marina Biaxa and another 10 hectares inland in Alto Vinalopó, near Villena (Monastrell, Garnacha Tintoreira, Airén, Macabeo). Some wines are released as PMCA, and other experimental or very small run (here today, then gone) wines are released under a parallel label, ‘Pequeñas Producciones Vinicolas’. Here, even more than with Bodegas Enrique Mendoza, Pepe is wary of overripeness, seeking cool, gentle, delicate, low-intervention, wines. The wines are made free, and Pepe’s not afraid of risk. If a given wine doesn’t work out, that’s the
price he’s prepared to pay in order to achieve radical successes. The wines are made in old riuraus – arched raisining huts, abandoned since phylloxera. PMCA is a
definitive break with default notions of Alicante Monastrell as wines of ‘fig and black olive’. There’s a deliberate duality in these wines. DO Alicante is part-coastal and part-inland high country, and Pepe harnesses both. Some wines are ‘Marina’ – wines from the coastal strip, fresh, salty and light. Some are from 100km inland in the upper reaches of Rio Vinalopó. The entry white and red blend both sub-regions to stunning effect. You feel the sun and light of the Mediterranean, salt and balsamic scrub, and everything is effortless and deft. These are artisanal small production, minimum intervention wines, conceived for and defined by Mediterranean freshness.
Wild, free and … delicious!
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