Mas d'en Gil Coma Blanca 2012
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Robert
Parker
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“La Grande Dame”, the jewel in the Mas d’en Gil crown. A white wine for drinking after reds. Complex, with deep nuances and a lingering finish. This wine starts to get interesting in its fourth year.
Great with hot seafood dishes such as lobster and king prawns. It also combines well with grilled white fish (plaice, gilthead and sea bass). It also works well with white meat such as roasted chicken cocotte and also with creamy cheese such as Torta del Casar..
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The white 2012 Coma Blanca is a balanced, barrel-fermented blend of Garnacha Blanca and Macabeo. It's obviously young, un-evolved and shows the effect of the élevage more than its younger white sibling, though the power and inherent concentration of the fruit and the vintage should soon absorb it. Pollen, beeswax, yellow fruit and white flowers with an unusual, chalky minerality (as the soil is slate) define this super white Priorat. A serious white Priorat for the medium- and long-term.
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2016-
Robert
Parker
The Rovira family of Vilafranca del Penedés, with long experience in the Spanish wine trade, acquired Masía Barril in 1998 from Rafael Barril's widow Magdalena and proceeded to conserve and upgrade the vineyards and facilities, reapplying the original name. The estate is farmed organically and includes multiple crops and forest, with vineyards constituting just 30% of the surface area.
There are hundreds of white grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles.
Tiny and entirely composed of craggy, jagged and deeply terraced vineyards, Priorat is a Catalan wine-producing region that was virtually abandoned until the early 1990s. This Spanish wine's renaissance came with the arrival of one man, René Barbier, who recognized the region’s forgotten potential. He banded with five friends to create five “Clos” in the village of Gratallops. Their aim was to revive some of Priorat’s ancient Carignan vines, as well as plant new—mainly French—varieties. These winemakers were technically skilled, well-trained and locally inspired; not surprisingly their results were a far cry from the few rustic and overly fermented wines already produced.
This movement escalated Priorat’s popularity for a few reasons. Its new wines were modern and made with well-recognized varieties, namely old Carignan and Grenache blended with Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. When the demand arrived, scarcity commanded higher prices and as the region discovered its new acclaim, investors came running from near and far. Within ten years, the area under vine practically doubled.
Priorat’s steep slopes of licorella (brown and black slate) and quartzite soils, protection from the cold winds of the Siera de Monstant and a lack of water, leading to incredibly low vine yields, all work together to make the region’s wines unique. While similar blends could and are produced elsewhere, the mineral essence and unprecedented concentration of a Priorat wine is unmistakable.