Clos Mogador Priorat 2014

Professional Ratings

• 98 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The blend of the top-of-the-range and flagship red changes with the vintage. The 2014 Clos Mogador is 49% Garnacha, 25% Cariñena, 16% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon from the vineyard that names the wine (and the winery), planted on llicorella slate soils at 350 meters in altitude. Eighty percent of the vines are 25 to 35 years old. It fermented with indigenous yeasts and had a 35- to 45-day maceration, followed by an élevage in 300-liter barrels and 2,000-liter foudres that lasted 18 months. They introduced oak foudres in 2011, which is the big change, and they use less and less barriques now. They are also using more and more Cariñena and Garnacha, but it depends on the vintage. All of the more recent wines have less tannins from the oak and less Cabernet Sauvignon, and they feel more elegant and balanced. There is great harmony on the palate, with very fine tannins and a velvety texture with great seriousness. This will develop at a very slow pace in bottle. They picked the grapes before the rains, and it's a concentrated year with nice extract but very good acidity. 31,000 bottles were filled in late June 2016.
• 94 Wine & Spirits
  Clos Mogador is an amphitheater of vines overlooking the Siurana River. The site was originally planted to garnacha and some cariñena more than 80 years ago. The Barbier family added syrah and cabernet when they arrived in the late seventies. This new vintage, a blend of all four varieties, is intense and profound, filled with ripe red cherry flavors and violet scents over a base of tense, tight tannins. This deserves at least ten years of aging.
• 93 Wine Spectator
  Lively and expressive, this red delivers ripe cherry and boysenberry flavors, backed by mountain herb, licorice and mineral notes. The rich texture is balanced by lively acidity and fine-grained tannins. There's plenty of stuffing, but the wine remains graceful and fresh. Grenache, Carignan, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2026. 2,100 cases made.