Winemaker Notes
Pristine fresh fruit, ripe blackberries with Priorat 'garrigue' - fragrant wild herbs, rosemary, thyme, black tea. Silky, fine tannin and bright acidity.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Scented, delineated nose but has depth, too. It effuses wet-stone minerality that gives a thin overlay to the red and blue berries. Some spices, briar and hibiscus, too. Juicy and medium- to full-bodied on the palate, which is a little more vertical and powerful than many of Palacios’ reds, highlighted by real tension and tautness here. Goes on and on.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I tasted the bottled 2021 Finca Dofí, which comes from the 16 hectares that spread across the lieux-dits of La Baixada, Coll de Falset and Camp d'en Piqué. It was made with 88% Garnacha, 9% Cariñena, 2% Picapoll and 1% white grapes fermented with 40% full clusters in oak vats and indigenous yeasts and matured in oval foudres and large barrels for 14 months. It's bright and subtle, with great freshness and elegance, a new face of Dofí, multilayered and harmonious, fine-boned and with very elegant tannins. The strength here is the palate, which is seamless and with more depth. 28,400 bottles produced.Rating: 96+
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Wine Spectator
A silky weightlessness and an overall finesse belies the pinpoint focus and tension in this vibrant red. A frame of taut, fine-grained tannins and bright acidity drive the vervy energy while providing a well-meshed, sculpted frame, with flavors of crushed raspberry, Earl Grey tea leaf and tar, plus hints of rose hip, vanilla and graphite that echo through the long finish.
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Vinous
The 2021 Finca Dofi is a blend of Garnatxa, Cariñena and dashes of other grapes, sourced from Gratallops in Priorat. This purple wine offers an intense fruit expression of pomegranate and elder, with an herbal undertone. Dry, compact and concentrated, the palate is full of sun energy and supported by a juicy mouthfeel.
Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. Somm Secret—The Italian island of Sardinia produces bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). California, Washington and Australia have achieved found success with Grenache, both flying solo and in blends.
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.