Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Carignan
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
An old-vine carignan that is naturally concentrated in flavors, but not in form. Some cement and crushed-stone character to the smoked blue fruit, wild berries, flowers and grilled herbs. Medium-to full-bodied palate with fresh fruit and a supple texture. Very fresh, delicate and composed for a carignan. Drink now or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The fruit profile of the 2020 Arbossar is completely different from the 2019s, with darker fruit and a smoky note, despite not having any oak (they stopped the foudres for this wine in 2016), but that note goes away with time in the glass. 2020 was a very challenging year, when they lost a lot of the grapes to mildew, and this is the only wine they produced; this is a vineyard near their house and winery and they had better access, other vineyards were difficult to reach because of the rain and also the limitations of manpower because of COVID-19. So, it's a year marked by mildew and the coronavirus. It's soft and fruit-driven, with round tannins and a soft mouthfeel.
Responsible for some of the most stunning old vine red wine on the planet, Carignan has an amazing capacity to survive dry, arid climates and still produce lovely, mouthwatering wine. In Spain it goes by the name of Mazuelo or Cariñena and while it may have originated there in the province of Aragón, its popularity lies elsewhere, particularly in Languedoc-Roussillon. Somm Secret—Historically Carignan did not enjoy the respect that it does today. In the mid 20th century, Carignan covered nearly 140,000 ha in Algeria, where it was made into low quality bulk and blending wine to supply mass-market demand.
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.