After posting on relatively obscure grapes like Sousón, Caíño tinto and Brancellao, it is nice to post on a more mainstream grape that is also new to me.
Argiolas "Perdera" 2007 DOC Monica di Sardegna; 13,5% abv; from Monica, Carignano & Bovale grapes. I don't know how much of each but 85% must be Monica in this appellation.
It has a pleasantly sweet smell, quite grape-like (as in the way that e.g. Muscat reminds one of actual grapes) - something I hadn't noticed before in a red wine. Garrigue and a slightly funky scent of well-hung game appear with air, but it never loses its lush fruit. Quite full bodied, it starts out fruit-dominant but gladly the tannins become pleasantly noticeable towards the finish. Not terribly long, but pleasant enough finish with some nice astringency to refresh the palate after all that sweetness. At over 14€ here, this isn't good value, but it was a wine with more interest than just ticking off two new grapes. At non-Alko prices I thought it was a nice fruit-forward drop, one that doesn't go the fruit route to excess and actually has a bit of honest structure. Fun wine.