1998 Clos Mogador Priorat- Spain, Catalunya, Priorat (2/5/2009)
Dark wine. Dark color, dark fruits, and a hint of dark chocolate in the finish. Nice minerality behind the fruit, as well, This was well balanced, and showed nicely. No hurry to drink these. In fact, given the showing of this and the '99 Mogador, as opposed to the 01 and 03 Doix and '03 Clos Fuentes, I wonder whether Priorats need about 10 years really show their stuff. Then again, maybe different oak regimens explains the difference.
I had the '92 Clos Mogador during this year’s Valentine Dinner, and, honestly found it quite confusing. Seemed to be in stride, though:
1992 Clos Mogador - From the Stockbroker. I don’t recall ever having a Spanish wine from this vintage or one that even vaguely tasted like this. The Stockbroker let on that it was a Priorat. All the Priorat wines I’ve had were relatively young, super-ripe and pedal to the metal in style.
The oldest Priorat I’ve had was the super-rich '93 Clos Erasmus the Doc shared over dinner at Sala on > the 28th November 2007 > (barely 14 years from vintage). This wine was quite different from that generous and super-ripe Erasmus from the succeeding vintage - but, then, again, this Mogador was already a bit older (16+ years from vintage).
Brambly dark fruit, touch of prune, cassis, black pepper, hit of chocolate, some black coffee, licorice, cherry, oak/vanilla - there was so much going in there I was, honestly, getting a bit confused with it - perhaps I should have relaxed a little instead of trying so hard to pick it apart in my likely-already-addled state. Much more subdued (which is not a bad thing), but a bit more than I could handle at the time. I’d certainly wouldn’t mind re-trying this at some other time (that’s not a hint, buddy).
I think the Mogador wines “found their stride” if you will in the 96-98 time frame. I think the 98, 99 and 00 are all drinking well now and the 01 and obviously 04/05/06 need a lot of time. I tend to think that the wines of Mogador, Doix and Rotllan are best starting about 10 years from vintage. The 98 Rotllan Torra Tirant is drinking well but still kind of a baby actually, a knockout wine, perhaps the Priorat of the vintage. The 01s from all of these wineries will certainly be 15 year wines, perhaps longer. In the last year or two I’ve had the following which are all drinking well:
For what it’s worth I think that Clos Martinet drinks better younger than the other three wines though I think that the 01 and later vintages will age at least nearly, if not fully, as well. Those four wineries are my go to / favorite producers in Priorat. Two new producers are promising to me – Trio Infernal and Galena. Many others (Vall Llach, Melis, Mas Romani, Lo Piot, Lo Givot, Erasmus of late, other newcomers) are just over the top and kill their terroir with oak and alcohol and are not to my tastes. The old Erasmus wines aged pretty well but I am not sure I have faith in the 2003 and later, the ripeness has perhaps pushed too far, but I could be wrong.
I’m still not sure how I feel about Finca Dofi… I’ve never been disappointed and have never felt they fall apart, but I’ve yet to catch one that wows me the way Mogador/Doix/Martinet/Rotllan can.