2003 Bodegas Castaño Monastrell (Yecla, Spain)

72. Another bitter, astringent 2003 from Spain. Deep blood red color, but the overwhelming component on the nose and in the mouth is scorched astringency. Sharp, burnt earth scents and flavors smother the clearly ripe fruit underneath. Painfully sharp tannins. Too bad. It seems to me that Spain is very definitely a mixed bag in 2003, a year of record-setting heat. I've had some really nice wines, and some clearly flawed ones. This falls into the latter camp. Parker rated the 2002 and 2004 of this wine highly. I guess this one's the runt of the litter. Luckily, it was only $7.99.