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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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Finca Dofí was produced with 88% Garnacha, 9% Cariñena, 2% Picapoll and 1% white grapes from a 12.5-hectare slope planted 18 to 38 years ago. It fermented with part of full clusters in oak vats with indigenous yeasts and had a maceration of 32 days. It matured in oval oak foudres and large French oak barrels for a period of 14 months. It has 14.4% alcohol and a pH of 3.46 and 4.8 grams of acidity. It has a little more color and ripeness, and it's quite spicy, with notes of licorice and an earthy twist. Palacios told me Picapoll has provided very good acidity and low alcohol; some years they used up to 6% of it (they started grafting it some 12 years ago from the old plants from his old winemaker, Joan Asens).
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
James Suckling
Fine minerals with a mixture of fresh blue and red berries. Nimble and elegant, with juicy berries and mineral tension along with firm tannins. Excellent length, elegance and purity from this warm and dry vintage.
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Wine Spectator
A fresh, graceful red, with lovely purity to the crushed raspberry, pomegranate and cherry fruit flavors. Shows pinpoint balance and precision, integrating a bright seam of blood orange peel–infused acidity and fine, chalky tannins. Appealing details of bay leaf, violet, wild thyme and mineral join the fruit profile to echo on the long, fluid finish. Garnacha and Samsó.
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Vinous
The 2022 Finca Dofi comprises 88% Garnacha with Cariñena, Picapoli and a pinch of white varieties. It sports a well-defined bouquet with blackberry, raspberry and light pencil shaving scents, focused and understated, later unfurling temptingly with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grip, bright and vivid with black cherries, hints of blueberry and a dab of allspice. Sedate and alluring, it feels reassuringly persistent on the finish. Lovely.
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.