2021 Gratallops Vi de Vila, Álvaro Palacios, Priorat, Spain
Critics reviews
The blend of the 2021 Gratallops was higher in Cariñena than in the 2020 (25%), which resulted in a wine with a lower pH (3.37), the tendency that makes the 2021s more vibrant. They used some 40% full clusters for the fermentation (rather than adding the stems like in the past). The wine has acid berry freshness; and right now it's a bit difficult with the tannins and the acidity, but one more year of élevage should make it more polished. It should be long-lived and fresh. The expect some 17,300 bottles to be filled around April 2023.
Drink 2024-2032
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (September 2022)
Precise nose with layers and layers of red berries, strawberries, blueberries, hibiscus, and minerals. Hint of moss, stems and white pepper, too. Beautifully knit and nimble with a precise, medium-bodied palate rounded by firm yet very silky, polished tannins. A refined, juicy finish with fine herbs that makes you crave a second glass. Really long. Drink or hold.
Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor at JamesSuckling.com (September 2023)
About this WINE
Álvaro Palacios
Álvaro Palacios, whose family owns the prestigious Rioja Bodega, Palacios Remondo, spent two years at Château Pétrus before setting up on his own in Priorat in 1989. From the outset, he set out to produce world-class wines using fruit from extremely low-yielding old vines and applying ultra-modern winemaking techniques.
The cream of the crop is the single vineyard wine L'Ermita, which was first produced in 1993. It is a blend of 80% Garnacha, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cariñena, all aged in new French barriques for up to 20 months. It is bottled unfiltered. It has intense concentration, enormous depth and a complexity which is simply staggering.
Priorat
Priorato, or Priorat, is one of the stand-out Spanish wine regions, with an extraordinary leap in wine quality, reputation and price over the 1990s. This small wine appellation, with 1,700 hectares of vines and just over 60 bodegas, lies to the west of the province of Tarragona in Catalonia.
It includes the municipalities of Scala Dei, Gratallops and Falset, where vines grow on steep terraces at varying altitudes of 100 to 700 metres. The climate is continental, and the region blessed with an exceptional schistous terroir (mostly llicorella with layers of slate and quartz). This schist is part of the same stratum found in the finest vineyards of the Douro, Toro and Ribera del Duero. It provides ideal conditions for growing vines and also contributes to the much-lauded mineral-rich character of Priorato’s wines.
The region’s wines were revolutionised through the efforts of René Barbier. In 1989 he joined forces with a group of eight other winemakers to produce wine from eight plots (or clos), planting the best grapes using modern methods, and harvesting at extremely low yields. This original group included such distinguished bodegas as Alvaro Palacios (Finca Dofi), Costers del Siurana and Mas Martinet.
The group later split up, but the legacy and the international acclaim their wines generated has attracted significant interest and investment in the Priorato region. It is now recognised as one of the great fine wine regions in Spain, rivalling Rioja and Ribera del Duero. The Priorat wines are typically powerful and full-bodied, with a warm, ripe fruitiness and impressive levels of concentration and minerality. The wines are made in all categories from Joven to Gran Reserva, undergoing the same oak ageing as Rioja.
The efforts of the Barbier group proved that old-vine, low-yielding Cariñena and Garnacha is the most planted variety here, followed by Garnacha. Both provide the backbone of the region’s wines, augmented by international varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.
White varieties (i.e. Chenin Blanc, Macabeo, Garnacha Blanca, Viognier and Pedro Ximénez) occupy less than five percent of the vineyard area.
Recommended Producers:
Combier Fischer Gerin (Trio Infernal), Clos Figueres, Alvaro Palacios (Finca Dofi)
Other Varieties
There are over 200 different grape varieties used in modern wine making (from a total of over 1000). Most lesser known blends and varieties are traditional to specific parts of the world.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
The blend of the 2021 Gratallops was higher in Cariñena than in the 2020 (25%), which resulted in a wine with a lower pH (3.37), the tendency that makes the 2021s more vibrant. They used some 40% full clusters for the fermentation (rather than adding the stems like in the past). The wine has acid berry freshness; and right now it's a bit difficult with the tannins and the acidity, but one more year of élevage should make it more polished. It should be long-lived and fresh. The expect some 17,300 bottles to be filled around April 2023.
Drink 2024-2032
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (September 2022)
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