Pop and poured.
I opened this because I noticed it started leaking.
This is a beautiful wine with lovely fruit on the nose and a very elegant Priorat palate. Tannin’s are smooth for such a young wine…ah, the hell with this bullsh#t…man, this is one of the best Priorat’s I’ve had in a long time. 94+ points.
Wow! I know it’s one of your favorite Spanish wines but I’m still surprised you liked it as much as you did.
F*ck Spanish corks. They are the worst Evar…
Loved the 2001 initially, but found they did not age well at all. Anyone tried the 01 recently?
Intelligent discourse at last. ‘Evarlastingly’ appreciated…
Drew:
I had my last 2001 Laurel a year ago and it was drinkable but had lost the youth power and had not gained any complexity to justify cellaring it. You have to realize that Laurel is the wine made with the fruit of the younger wines that are not ready to be used for Clos Erasmus. My advice is to drink it no later than six years after its vintage to take full advantage of it.
Phillip:
Not sure how many Spanish wines you try or which ones you have tried to come with that blanket statement but I drink a lot of them and do not have that many problems with their corks. I tend to have more problems with other wine countries than Spain.
Steve:
Not sure how the wine was stored or if it was damaged during transportation from the winery to the US but I have not seen leakage problems with wines from that winery or Priorat in general.
Priorat wineries on average use the best corks in Spain IMO. That the wines are going to age as long as Rioja’s or Ribera del Duero’s that is another story.
Although the corks from Laurel are a little bit shorter than the ones used for Clos Erasmus, they are corks of excellent quality.
SALUDos,
José
Bought on release, stored at 55 degrees. Hey I’m not complaining, it’s a lovely wine and IMO I drank it at it’s peak.
thanks for the note, Steve. I was this close [pointer finger and thumb mere milimeters apart] to drinking our one bottle a few months ago … i went so far as to pull it from our cellar, put it in a cooler, and truck it all the way to Vegas with us … alas, it was the one bottle we brought that we didn’t get around to, so back in the cellar it went. looks like I’ll be popping it sometime soon.
I had the 2006 a few weeks ago. I was excited to try it, but it didn’t really impress me. Here’s my note:
Clos Erasmus Laurel – 2006
Lively ruby color in the glass. Heavy cranberry and sour cherry on the nose (the cranberries are fresh and the sour cherries are slightly candied). The fruit would be slightly creamy if not for the sourness (think yogurt instead). I also catch wisps of vanilla and some dustiness behind all the sharpness. The palate is a story of tart and racy acidity in a couple of forms. The attack and the mid-palate are dominated by ripe red cherries, and the long finish is loaded with chalk dust and other zingy minerals. Well structured wine with focused fruit and a good dose of minerals but lacking the complexities I need to really get excited. For me, putting so many high toned elements together seems not vibrant but out of balance. I have another bottle just in case, but this effort doesn’t strike me as a wine that will either balance itself out in a good way or add the complexities I’d welcome in lieu of toning down the aggressive tartness. I would, however, like to taste the more exclusive wine from Clos Erasmus provided that the bottle had some age on it. 90 pts
Great board you got going on here.
Cheers
2004 Clos Erasmus Priorat Laurel - Spain, Catalunya, Priorat (4/24/2015)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over approx. 30 min. –
NOSE: very fruity with lots of peaty oak; some cherry licorice.
BODY: some medium-fine particulate matter present; dark garnet color of medium-deep depth; medium-full bodied.
TASTE: oaky; strong alcohol taste and sensation — this is labeled at 14.5%, but it’s probably closer to 40% abv — hits like a shot of vodka, and tastes like a cheap blended whisky; low acid; not much tannin; this is seriously one of the most disgusting non-flawed wines I’ve ever had: I might actually score this higher as a whisky than I do as a wine, if I were tasting blind; absolutely vile stuff. I feel like my score is too high on this one. Clearly past whatever peak it may have had.
50, 5, 11, 7, 3 = (76 pts.)