Garnarcha Blend
Coto de Hayas Rosado 2007
The rosado campaign continues…I think I’ve run out of things to say about rosado. So instead I’ll talk about Spanish national day tomorrow (12th of October). A good excuse to cook up a pealla and drink something Spanish. That’s my plan anyway. If you’re out and about, Rathdowne cellars are having a tasting on Sunday, including Telmo’s big gun from Ribera del Duero, Matallana. It’s free, so what are you waiting for.
Pasanau La Morera De Montsant Priorat 2003
A very tasty and affordable Priorat. It’s made from a blend of Garnacha, Cabernet, and Merlot from older vineyards and lives in in 1 year old American and French oak for 12 months. It’s bright and fresh, with a herby/medicinal character that may turn a few people off, but I like it.
Mas d’en Gil Coma Vella 2002
It is this kind of wine that leads to a few of the comments I made on the post about the Clos Fonta. In vintages like 2002, which wasn’t a great vintage, the producers still have the high costs of everything in the vineyard being done by hand, plus lower production and quality to boot. So all these costs (and some profit) get passed on to consumers, which would make this wine a hard sell at $90. Then again the 2004 will probably fly out the door. The punters expect something special at this price range, unfortunatley nature doesn’t always play along.
Mas d’en Gil ‘Clos Fonta’ 2001
I’ve been a big fan of Priorat in the past, but the price rises over the past couple of vintages have pushed these wines into a whole new price bracket. Plus they can be challenging, confronting wines that are more for the head than the heart. That doesn’t sound like fun, does it? Well, maybe in a fetish kind of way. Actually, the cheaper wines can be much more enjoyable than ultra expensive ones. At times I think you get much better value over the other side of the Iberian Peninsula in the Douro Valley.
Clos Mogador 2005
I've had a couple of requests to open a bottle of this wine, so I ducked into Boccaccio Cellars on Sunday and picked up a bottle. I went home decanted for an hour or so while I cooked up a couple of good steaks. It looked a bit odd to start with and really not [...]
La Perla del Priorat ‘Noster’ 2004
I've been lucky to look at a couple of very good entry level wines from Priorat over the past couple of weeks, and this is anther ripper. The Noster is made from 7 to 18 year old garnacha (55%) and crineña (45%) vines. Aging is older french oak for half the blend, while the other half [...]
La Perla del Priorat ‘Clos les Fites’ Crianza 2003
The problem with long weekends is that you end up trying to fit 5 days of work into 4. I had one of those this week, loads on at work, plus an unexpected trip to Adelaide and the 35+ degree days have made it a fairly slow week for wine tasting. Anyway, I managed to [...]
Tar and Roses Miro 2004
You may have seen a story about this wine in Epicure if you're in Melbourne, perhaps on theage.com if not. If not here's a quick summary: Don Lewis of Mitchelton fame and his partner, Narelle King, scored a gig making wine for Merum Priorati and in 2004 could get their hands on some fruit to [...]
Alvaro Palacios Finca Dofi 2000
The second of my Priorat auction purchases went much better. One of the problems with buying wine at auction is you never really know whats happened to it before it got to the auction house. I've had good luck so far and have usually picked up very well stored bottles. While there is still a [...]
Clos Mogador 1996
I picked up this wine and a bottle of 2000 Finca Dofi from auction to see how they were looking and to test the theory that these wines from Priorat can age well and develop additional complexity. While there is quite a bit of old vine material in the region, modern methods have only been [...]
Recent Comments
- golos on Marques de Riscal Reserva 2001
- DELDUQUE O. MARTINS on Gonzalez Byass ‘Del Duque’ Amontillado
- sergio on Faustino I Gran Reserva 1996
- Fintan Devitt on Mantel Blanco Sauvignon Blanc 2006
- Gery Albu on Condado De Haza Tinto 2003
