DO Yecla is located in the southeast just south of Valencia. This is home to Monastrell, one of Spain's most famous varieties, which was once their pride of the region. These days the region is... Read More

DO Yecla is located in the southeast just south of Valencia. This is home to Monastrell, one of Spain's most famous varieties, which was once their pride of the region. These days the region is almost completely dominated by wines destined for the export market. An incredible 92% of wines produced in Yecla leave Spain and are produced “international” style . Wines made this way have too much fruit extraction, too much oak and too much booze to display any regional character.

There are few folks better positioned to help realign Yecla’s wine making priorities than Patrick Mata. His family, for generations before him, produced quality wines from all over Spain with the winery centered in Yecla. With the decline of quality wine production in the region, the wines became less desirable and the winery closed its doors in 1972. He now works with old vine Monastrell, some from vineyards that went into the old family wines, that survived being pulled out for Cabernet. He does not discriminate though and chooses to work with international varieties believing that they too are part of Yecla’s long and storied winemaking history.