A fabled wine with a long and interesting history, Priorat (or Priorato) hails from sacred soil, has a rich history and a fairly flexible recipe that results in a wide variety of wines. They're all rich, dark, inky, big, flavorful. They all contain Granache. And the rest is art and science.
The Catalans call it Priorat, most others say Priorato, and the region has become something of a cult wine producer, thanks to the special soil, called llicorella, made of a brown slate mixed together with rocks. Mountains surround the area and the vines are tended by hand.
Priorats are based on Garnacha (Grenache), and produce inky wines with intense fruit flavors of blackberry and plums, not to mention a required minimum of 13.5% alcohol. The wines are big in all factors. The secondary grape of the region is Carinena (Carignan in France). This grape has lost favor in most parts of the world but here in Priorat, it’s a welcome addition to the Garnacha based wines. They can also contain Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mazuelo and Syrah.
Some of our favorites:
Alvaro Palacios, Les Terrasses
Clos Erasmus is one of the very best
Laurel (no Hardy) is almost half Cabernet Sauvignon. WA 91 points. Second label of Clos Erasmus, a mid-range winner
Mas d'En Gil
Mas Doix is Robert Parker's high-end fave
Mas Perinet is M. Le Du's mid-range choice
Pasanau: Ceps Nous around $20 a bottle, La Planeta around $50 (WS 93 points)
Rotllan Torra is organic and good, from $16 to $80
Vall Llachs: a range from $30 "Embriux" which means “bewitching” to the eponymous high-end dazzler.
Montsant:
A relatively new Spanish wine DO (denomination ), Monstant forms a horseshoe around Priorat, but the wines here have a clear identity of their own. We're still doing our research, but so far we're underwhelmed. The Wineline panel concludes, for now, that they lack the sophistication and depth of Priorats, have a simpler, smugger, more fruit-forward style. So far we say: buy the low end Priorats instead, even though Montsant is cool, some big-name critics dig them and many of the labels are nifty.
