The story of Alicante’s native grape varieties is part of our everyday life in the winery. These are the grapes we grew up with, already attuned to the climate and the landscape we share. Each harvest reminds us that we work with a heritage we did not invent: we simply care for it so it can continue to speak with clarity.
Alicante Giró is one of those varieties that once seemed destined to disappear, until we looked at it again with real intention. In its old vines we found an honest way of expressing the land: fresh red fruit, wild mountain herbs, and a salinity that only appears in vineyards close to the sea. It is a resilient, forthright grape, perfectly aligned with the Mediterranean character.
Alicante Moscatel embodies another essential part of our identity. Its natural aroma, between floral and citrus, has accompanied generations in the form of mistelas and sweet wines, yet today it also allows us to craft dry wines full of freshness. Handled gently, it offers a luminous expression deeply tied to the coast.
Monastrell is a native variety deeply rooted in Alicante and perfectly adapted to our sandy loam soils, so well suited to the vine. For years it was associated with dense, concentrated wines, but we have discovered another face: a finer, more vertical Monastrell, where fruit and the character of our hills take the lead. It can express the territory with a freshness that surprises those who still imagine it as heavy. Its small clusters hold the essence of the sun, yes, but also a natural tension that emerges when it is grown with respect and harvested at the precise moment.
The Mediterranean wine we craft from these varieties is born from a natural balance between ripeness and freshness. The climate, the light, and the limestone soils shape the character of each plot, and that shows in the glass without the need for adornment. Our work is to accompany that process and let the landscape speak clearly. That is why these grapes fit so well with a way of understanding wine in which the identity of the territory matters more than any technical perfection.
The renewed attention to these varieties is not a passing trend. It is the natural result of seeking wines with identity and recognizing that grapes adapted for centuries to heat and drought are also the ones that best prepare us for the future. Recovering them is a way of moving forward without losing our roots.
In our winery, these grapes are not a trend: they are part of our family history. When we decided to create Pepe Mendoza Casa Agrícola, we did so with the conviction that the Mediterranean deserved to be told in its own words. Alicante Giró, Alicante Moscatel, and Monastrell, the old vineyards, the centuries‑old dry‑stone walls that frame them, the respectful farming, the minimal intervention… all of it forms a single guiding thread: letting the land speak.
Each bottle is a small tribute to who we were and who we want to continue being. A bridge between generations, between tradition and modernity, between memory and the future. And when we open one of those bottles, we feel that everything makes sense: that the Mediterranean is there, alive, accompanying us as it always has.
