love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts:12468
 | | 07/01/2003 12:44 PM |
| What is it? I am not sure about the details that are labeled "Priorat", but I know that I like what I drank so far.
And, some are getting very high ratings, I see. | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13698
| | 07/01/2003 12:47 PM |
| | I am guessing here, and I will surely be corrected, but Priorats are from the region Priorat in Spain, right? And these are mostly, if not all, Temperanillo, right? | |
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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ttepper
Barrel Filler
Posts:1312
| | 07/01/2003 12:49 PM |
| | Its a small region in Spain... | | | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Labeler
Posts:3980
| | 07/01/2003 1:03 PM |
| Most of the big gun Priorats that I know are mostly Grenache (Clos Erasmus for example).
I'm sure Gastro can give us plenty more detail... | | | |
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DdB
Barrel Filler
Posts:1452
| | 07/01/2003 1:05 PM |
| l_c_c: Priorat wines are from the Priorat region of Spain. Priorat is actually one of the older appelations in Spain and has seen a revivial in recent years.
Much of the area has poor soil, a dry climate, steep vineyards and old vines. Because of this, the wines are typically bold, intense and with a hint of tell-tale minerality from the terrain (which I really enjoy). Blends are the order of the day with varietals ranging from Grenache to Cab to Carignan to Syrah to Merlot in the mix.
Much like big cabs, these wines typically require some cellar time to really show their stuff. I had a 91 Priorat the other day and it was just fabulous.
Some names to look for:
Clos Mogador
Vall Llach
Cims de Porrera
Clos Erasmus
All of the above retail for less than $100. | | | |
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Winetex
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts:10751
| | 07/01/2003 1:07 PM |
| Gastonauta probably has some thoughts on this. From the Sotheby's book -
"This area has a dry climate and poor soil in which the vines' roots spread everywhere in the search of moisture, the local saying being that Priorato vines can suck water out of stone. The best wines are currently being made around the hilltop town of Gratallops, by a group of young winemakers led by Bordeaux-trained Riojan oenologist Alvaro Palacios, who brought with him a wealth of experience from Chateau Petrus to the Napa Valley.
New-style reds are huge, serious, and stunningly rich, but old style are heavy, over-alcoholic and oxidized, although the best traditional wines fall somewhere in between. One of the country's oldest appellations, Priorato is set to become a Spanish wine super-star."
In Priorat they grow many types of grapes including cab, carignan, grenache, grenache blanc, merlot, mourvedre, and syrah. Tempranillo is not the principal varietal and most of the wines are blends from this list.
One of my favorite Grenache wines from Priorat is from Morlanda. Other wineries of note are Finca Dofi, Clos Mogador, Clos Erasmus, Vinicola del Priorato (Mas d'Alba, Onix). | | | |
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jaimetown
DC area
Wine Bottler
Posts:3478
| | 07/01/2003 1:46 PM |
| Here's a post I put up on the WS forums a while back:
You can find the threadhere . Welcome to one of my favorite wine regions of the world!
Well I'll give this a shot before Gastro chimes in with his dissertation...
Priorat is a viticultural appellation in the northeastern region of Spain. Very mountainous and rough, the primary grapes from there include Garnacha (grenache), Monastrell (mouvedre) and Carignan. For my tastes, Priorat wines express really wonderful terroir of minerals (schist, I believe) along with their dark fruit profiles. The wines here tend to be quite expensive, but you can find similar wines of similar character in neighboring appellations like Tarragona-Falset (try Laurona @$18 by Europvin - a collaboration b/w Christopher Canaan and Rene Barbier) and Monstant, for considerably less.
Here are some producers to try:
$100+
L'Ermita (A. Palacios' top wine, this is one of the greatest wines in Spain)
Clos Erasmus (Made by D. Glorian, wife of importer Eric Solomon, I believe)
$50-$100
Clos Mogador (Rene Barbier)
Finca Dofi (A. Palacios)
Gran Clos
Clos Martinet (Sara Perez, and her father make this wine)
Under $50
Les Terrasses (A. Palacios)
'98 - '00 have all been pretty good vintages in Priorat. I've also heard good things about "La Universal" made in Tarragona by Sara Perez. | | | |
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Winetex
Austin, Texas
Master of Wine
Posts:10751
| | 07/01/2003 1:52 PM |
| | Great posts - it's funny how it was the same group over on the WS board. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 07/01/2003 2:05 PM |
| You guys and gal will be the death of me, apart from of course making me redundant anywhere I go.
"I'm sure Gastro will chime in sooner or later; meanwhile lemme do the easy job and leave all the hairsplitting for him"
OK, I'll do the pictures if you don't mind...
Forthcoming... links to vineyard views | | | |
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ojeffso
warren, new jersey
Wine Lover
Posts:4877
| | 07/01/2003 2:08 PM |
| actually, i believe the clos erasmus is made by rene barbier. daphne glorian is the owner of the wine. i visited priorat a few years back and in particular rene barbier's operation. he was making wine for quite a few people.
btw, i was there in the middle of august and it was extremely hot, almost desert like. | | | |
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jaimetown
DC area
Wine Bottler
Posts:3478
| | 07/01/2003 2:21 PM |
| LOL Gastro!
We are merely students on this Spanish Island, and you are our professor! | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 07/01/2003 2:57 PM |
| Ok, then this is it.
The Priorat region of Southern Italy is a massive flat area flooded with water from torrential rains. The soils speak of fertility and since the land is soeasy to labor only a bunch of city guys have decided to work thegentle slopes into even easier andhighly mechanized harvestable terraces.
For the serious guys, however, there is one ceiling: thevineyard calledL'Ermita
Some of its neighbors are pretty good too, such as Gran Clos, but everything reeks oftechnology there...
Vall Llach ai't bad either, but the land there is almostflat as well. | | | |
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ojeffso
warren, new jersey
Wine Lover
Posts:4877
| | 07/01/2003 3:14 PM |
| | southern italy? | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 07/01/2003 3:31 PM |
| A few notes:
The historical Priorat region of Southern Catalonia is now less clearly delimited in terms of wine. In the Tarragona province now coexist four different DOs: Tarragona, Terra Alta, Montsant, & Priorat. Montsant is a ring enclosing Priorat inside it.
Now, it's true that 90% of the top bottlings are under $100, but please bear in mind that most of those can be bought for around $50. From the "under $100" tag you'd think they generally fetch $99.99
Garnacha and cariñena are the varieties used for the best wines though that is only because those were the century-old vines planted in the land when the "Clos" bunch settled there in the late 80s. Since then it has become increasingly difficult (& pricey) to acquire old vine plots. In any case almost everybody has planted a little Cab, Merlot, or Syrah to blend in. Clos Mogador is one of the best wines year in and year out, and yet it's about 40% foreign varietals.
Of course if you throw the fruit of centenary Grenache and Carignan into one supercuvée and successfully sell it en primeur (L'Ermita)...congratulations!
Some places (Porrera) are predominantly Carignan.
Vineyards can be planted on flat land (as in the famous case of the lighterbodied Morlanda), on terraces, or on the steep costers where only the Tensings of the area dare...sometimes with the help of a (blinded) donkey. This usually makes a world of a difference in drainage since the local slatey soil, the llicorella, cannot retain virtually any water on a steep coster and therefore the resulting hydric stress makes the vine roots dig deeper into the soil through many different layers. The minerality of the wines testifies to the successful drilling of the vines. Down in the valleys the yields are appropriately higher but we know the wines can be good nonetheless.
The wine I've posted on most recently, Els Igols, has its name taken from the water pools that form at the foot of the hills. It never sounded promising... | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 07/01/2003 3:33 PM |
| | ojeffso the whole thing is a big damn lie. Southern Italy is the smallest of all. If you found the slopes gentle and the terraces easy to truck-harvest...my effort was in vain... I was just pulling some legs there | | | |
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ojeffso
warren, new jersey
Wine Lover
Posts:4877
| | 07/01/2003 3:56 PM |
| | ah! a european joke! | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts:442
| | 07/01/2003 3:58 PM |
| Yep, not quite English humor but almost | | | |
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Jeremy Matthew
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2067
| | 07/01/2003 11:37 PM |
| LOL!
Looks pretty dry don't it?
Thanks Gastor,
As I'm in a Spainish search and drink mode Priorat will sit at the top of my list. | | | |
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love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts:12468
| | 07/02/2003 1:48 AM |
| | Thank you, guys. Loads of good info, as always. I do like the style of Wines that they produce there. And, as a matter of fact, very impressed with Spanish Wines. | | | |
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love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts:12468
| | 07/02/2003 1:52 AM |
| | Gastro &/or all: How about the Whites? Don't hear too much about those from Spain. Any thoughts? | | | |
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