I discovered tonight that I like Priorat - A lot

WINE TALK
1

My wife and I had dinner at a local Enoteca.
After browsing the menu for awhile and talking with our waitress we decided to order a glass of 2010 Sao Del Coster Priorat S.
The glass arrived with a deep dark purple color. I took a whiff and aromas of leather, dark fruit and spice were leaping from the glass.
Palate was more of the same with spice and smoke very prominent in good balance with the fruit.
Both my wife and I liked this very much and ordered a second glass.
After a quick internet search I was unable to find this wine for sale in my area, or the USA for that matter.
I did find a different one local 2012 Vall Llach Embruix Priorat.
I have not many wines from Spain but enjoyed the ones I have had, Tres Picos being the one that is cheap, easy to get and enjoyable.
Any suggestions for a Priorat I can get in California? Do they need some age or can they be good young?

Thanks

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Alvaro Palacios is pretty available and makes wines at most price points.

Lower priced (>$30) versions can be a little anonymous, fruity, vanilla laden and soft.

If you spend a little more you really start to taste the real Priorat. Steep, terraced hillside vineyards, blazing hot summers and if you spend even a little more some old vine intensity. I think Priorat straddles modern and rustic pretty well but some of the wines can be seriously modern.

To get startedā€¦
Alvaro Palacios Les Terrasses ~$40
Casa Gran del Siurana Cruor ~$20
Casa Gran del Siurana Gran Cruor ~$50
Clos Mogador ~$70
Clos Martinet ~$70
Ferrer Bobet ~$60
Mas Doix Salanques ~$40

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This is entirely random:

I have not many wines from Spain but enjoyed the ones I have had, Tres Picos being the one that is cheap, easy to get and enjoyable.

Tres Picos has nothing to do with Priorat.

Priorat is an area that was all but abandoned after phylloxera, WW1, Civil War, WW2, and Franco.

Then in the early 1980s, an enology professor looked at some of the land and thought it was pretty interesting. Rene Barbier agreed and bought some land. They convinced Alvaro Palacios and Carlos Pastrana to buy some land too. They managed to convince Daphne Glorian, a Swiss/German woman to join them.

The old farmers had planted a lot of Carinena, which they also did in the south of France and actually, in California too, because it produced well. There was a lot of Garnacha planted for similar reasons.

The group figured that nobody buys Garnacha or Carinena, so they planted Cab, Merlot, Syrah and Tempranillo. And Parker, like you, didnā€™t know much about Spanish wine, tried some of this, liked it, gave it high points, and the region was off and running. That would have been in the early 1990s.

Over the years the group had a falling out and kind of rapproachment. Some of them started including more of the old vine Carinena and Garnacha in their blends and today Daphne for example, uses mostly Garnacha in her Clos Erasmus, while the Perez wines tended towards Carinena.

Itā€™s really hard to farm in Priorat because of the steep rocky slopes, and the land prices went up fast once the wines started getting high points, so unlike most regions, in Priorat there are more expensive wines than inexpensive wines.

Having been trying these wines since the early 1990s when they started appearing, many of them are seriously overpriced. Some crap out fast. Others live a bit longer. Itā€™s not possible to generalize much because thereā€™s not really a lot of history as compared to somewhere like Rioja and people were learning what grapes to use and how to use them. Itā€™s kind of like Nebbiolo in California. But itā€™s also like Zin in California - a lot of vines were used for white Zin or were abandoned until people found them and started to treat them lovingly.

Tres Picos is from a completely different area, itā€™s what would have been a co-op wine, and itā€™s from inexpensive land. Itā€™s a pretty good job of a cheap Garnacha, which at one point was the most widely planted red wine grape in the world, most of it being in Spain. There is a LOT of Garnacha in Spain and itā€™s possible to find lots of it in CA and Priorat is not the best place for it IMHO.

Priorat is like a donut hole. Around it is another region. Politics demanded that it not be included when they marked off the boundaries of the wine-making region So if you can imagine a kind of donut shaped area around a central area, the center point is Priorat and the donut shaped area is Montsant. Similar soil - itā€™s a black slate kind of soil, and similar grapes, but cheaper wines because theyā€™re from the wrong neighborhood. Look for some of those if thatā€™s what you like. Or look for something from completely different areas, like that Tres Picos.

4

Not sure how easy it is to find but the Cellar Mas Garrian, Clos Severi is a really nice wine and should be less than $30. They also make a higher priced bottling called Mas deal Camperol but this still comes in under $40.

5

Thanks for all the suggestions and GregT for the great history lesson.
Not unexpectedly it probably wonā€™t be easy to find a good Priorat here but now I have some clues.
This history reminds me of a wine I stumbled on a recent trip to Santa Ynez where we found Sagrantino at Mosby winery.
It was also an area (in Italy) that was written off and is making a come back. I think Mosby is the only vineyard in the US growing it.

6

Was able to find 2013 Alvaro Palacios Les Terrasses here for $34.95

Also 2013 Palacios; Camins del Priorato $18.95

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Val Llach, Mas dā€™en Compte, even a few cheaper selections have impressed me. There are some good whites coming from the region as well

8

Eric Solomon has a ā€˜Black Slateā€™ line of area/village designated Priorats, that in theory show some of the different sub-terroirs and different blends. Fairly modern and difficult to see too much separation between them unless you do them side by side, but very good quality that hovers around the 420 mark or so.

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If Monsieur Touton has distribution near you, try their ā€œLlicorellaā€ Priorat. Sub-$20 and pretty darn good!

10

Terroir Al Limit wines are smart, but top wines are nose bleed territory.

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Iā€™m a big fan of Palacios Finca Dofi and of Clos Mogador and Clos Mogador Manyetes

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Had a very nice 2009 Ferrer Bobet VV earlier this year. Paid $40 in SoCal and found it to be well integrated and food friendly. Would pair this like a chianti.

I also picked up some 2010s recently which were on deep discount but will wait a few years to open these.

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Iā€™d concur with the sentiments that it doesnā€™t seem to age as well as its price (in general) would suggest.

I bought more when I was younger, didnā€™t think it really blossomed with age, and now only consume an occasional bottle.

Iā€™ve had a few vintages of Val Llach and its embruix little brother, and liked them.

But my main suggestion would be if one was planning on cellaring them - try some older ones first to see if its worth the effort. They can be nice when young.

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Exactly. And when making the assessment, be aware of which is which. There are indeed a few that are in the $20 range or so, but those are kind of like drinking BV Napa and holding that as proxy for Napa in its entirety. Then some bodegas have moved towards more or even all Garnacha like Daphneā€™s wines, whereas the Perez family likes Carinena, and Pastrana sticks with the original blend that relies more on Cab, etc.

Actually the OP seems to have an interest in wines beyond Priorat and as far as QPR, Priorat is the last place to look. OTOH, Spain has many wonderful QPR wines. Itā€™s not that the wines from Priorat are problematic, just that at the low end, they donā€™t compete.

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I would suggest giving Nita a shot, itā€™s an unoaked Priorat that gives you a naked look and taste of the region, while delving into the oaked versions which are great too.

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Ended up taking home a bottle 2011 Black Slate Porrera for $19.
Reviews seemed to be positive, will let you know how it turns out plan to crack it open this weekend.
A lot of comments about Priorat not being the best QPR, both my wife and I really liked the wine we had and it was quite different than anything else I have had.
I am not sure I could get same experience from a different region of Spain. If the Black Slate is as good as the Sao Del Coster we had I will happy with the price.

17

Well Eric is married to Daphne Glorian who was one of the original five and who puts out Clos Erasmus from Priorat. Thatā€™s going to set you back a few hundred dollars a bottle. But Eric is good at finding co-ops and small producers with lots of potential and helping them raise their games a little bit. The resulting wines are often great buys. He does it in France and in Spain. So Iā€™m not trying to pimp for the guy and heā€™s had run-ins with some close friends, but one approach you might take is to look for wines that are imported by European Cellars or that say theyā€™re an Eric Solomon Selection. I give him a lot of credit for some of the stuff heā€™s come up with.

As far as Priorat, there are more lower-end wines today than ever, but the real interest is at the higher end. These days youā€™re not likely to find cheap land or old co-ops there, so itā€™s kind of like Napa - the producers are all pretty new and youā€™re paying for their investments. And just like Napa, if you shop carefully, you might score some deals.

Best! [cheers.gif]

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Good discussion and nice to see Priorat on page one. This is a region whoā€™s wines Iā€™ve tried to explore since our visit about ~10 years ago. Iā€™d highly recommend checking it out if youā€™re in Barcelona ā€“ only a couple hours drive. Above and beyond the wine, the region has great food, friendly Catalan people and breathtaking views.

A couple of points Iā€™ll add on:

  1. The old vine (up to 100 years old in some cases) wines and cuvees are worth the premium from the entry level young vine stuff. Both young and old vine wines have their merits. But the old vine wines do offer a different and more complex experience.

  2. Iā€™m still undecided on whether and how much to age Priorat wines. The best wines can certainly age and stand the test of time. Iā€™m just unconvinced that they develop into a better or more interesting wine with time. For now, I think 5-10 years old is the prime drinking window ā€¦ but Iā€™m still learning and figuring it out. Below is a note from last night on a 20 year old wine, from Gran Clos, who Iā€™ve found to be a quality producer that was part of the 1990s renaissance in Prioriat.

  • 1995 Cellers Fuentes Priorat Gran Clos de J.M. Fuentes - Spain, Catalunya, Priorat (9/5/2015)
    Classic old vine Priorat. Lifted and focused aromatic of black cherry fruit with loads of black mineral, slate, and a toasted herb note. Palate brings medium weight pure black cherry and blackberry fruit with a prominent herb, mineral undertone. Good energy and acidity with suave, fine, soft tannin. Delivers terroir ā€“ as you can taste and feel the old vine and rocky soil in this wine. Fully mature, holding up well, but likely on the back of itā€™s plateau. I would drink up. Lovely stuff with moderate complexity. My only question is I wonder if itā€™s any better or complex now than 10 years ago ā€¦ I donā€™t think so. (91 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

19

Just realized I had 420 instead of $20 (damn that shaky shift key [swearing.gif] ). Hope that didnā€™t throw anyone.
If the place you bought it has any of the other Black Slates try and drink them side by side and see if you can notice any differences. Think there are 4 total, and with the 2014 vintage they are also adding a white.

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Thought I would report back on the Black Slate Porrera.
I could tell only vaguely that this wine was the same varietal from the same region but was quite different from the 2010 Sao Del Coster that we liked. It was much more fruit driven, riper, flabbier with some mineral notes. It was missing the spice, smoke and structure of the Sao Del Coster.
For $19 it was quaffable and somewhat enjoyable but would not buy again.
I donā€™t often say this but maybe this wine is too modern for me.
I am not sure where to go from here, I could spend a lot more money and hope for a better Priorat or look elsewhere in Spain.