Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Melis is 62% Garnacha 19% Carinena, and the balance Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 16 months in several sizes of French oak. It serves up a similar aromatic array but offers considerably more on the palate, Full-bodied and still tightly wound, it is dense, layered, and rich with gobs off savory black fruit and spice notes. It will benefit from 3-5 years of cellaring and have a drinking window extending from 2013 to 2026.
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Wine Spectator
Plum, fig, cocoa powder and cola flavors mingle in this broad, inviting red. Alluring oak notes don't overshadow the fruit and mineral character, and the firm tannins are balanced by crisp acidity. Drink now through 2014. 1,200 cases made.
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Wine & Spirits
A blend of garnacha (60 percent) with carinena, cabernet and syrah, this is spicy up front with blackberry and black cherry flavors. It's a Priorat tough, powerful and a bit unpolished, built for a generous cut of steak or to cellar at least five years.
Beyond the usual suspects, there are hundreds of red grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines, while others are better suited for use as blending grapes. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles, offering much to be discovered by the curious wine lover. In particular, Portugal and Italy are known for having a multitude of unique varieties but they can really be found in any region.
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.