Priorat, SP
Regular price $29.99
Sale Price $23.99
Priorat is one of the great wine appellations of Spain, known for generous, full bodied wines with high alcohol levels and teeth staining levels of extraction. This wine is most of all that, and less.By that I mean that it’s big and rich and full, yet this wine maintains a youthful exuberance and delivers balancing acidity that makes it both wonderful with a meal as well as easy and pleasurable as a cocktail.
It’s a blend of Grenache, Carignane and Syrah (yes, those same grapes that feature so prominently in wines from the Southern Rhone) grown on the steep, slate “llicorella” hillsides. These flat, easily breakable, deeply colored stones are where the vine roots delve in search of water and nutrients. It is these soils which are responsible for giving Priorat wines their unique flavor and style. As the vines expend energy seeking water, the berries produced are small and fully flavored with tiny small ratio of water to solids in the grape. Both sweet and tart, the sugars are consumed by native yeasts, creating the high alcohol level, while the high acid level creates freshness and balance.
The wine creeps dangerously close to fruit bomb status, but the slate minerality, herbal and floral tones add complexity to the bold dark berry flavors. It’s elegant and soft and full and rich. It’s delicious.