2021 Les Aubaguetes, Álvaro Palacios, Priorat, Spain
Critics reviews
1,400 bottles were filled the 10th of February 2023.
The bottled 2021 Les Aubaguetes delivered what the barrel sample had promised (and more!) when I tasted it in June 2022. It was bottled with a contained pH of 3.45. It's composed of 71% Garnacha, 28% Cariñena and 1% white varieties that fermented with 55% full clusters in oak vats and then matured in oval French oak foudres for 12 months. It has to be the most elegant, ethereal and nuanced vintage of Les Aubaguetes so far, perfumed and full of energy and light.
The palate is symmetric, precise, like laser cut, harmonious and amazing. It's a very classical wine that develops plenty of different aromas with time in the glass, with hints of meat and blood, iron, violets, blood orange, aromatic herbs and flowers. There is an extra layer of complexity and elegance here; it's more ethereal and subtler, developing more and more nuances as the wine sat in the glass.
Drink 2024 - 2036
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (May 2024)
71% Garnacha, 28% Cariñena, 1% Garnacha Blanca and Macabeo.
Understated nose, black cherry fruit, fine tannins and high acid. Tight-knit structure and fairly light body. There's lovely energy to the fruit, even though the overall volume is muted. The finish is defined by the high acidic refreshment.
Drink 2025 - 2035
Álvaro Palacios, JancisRobinson.com (August 2023)
Scented and floral nose but really precise with a slatey, mineral verve looming in along with the blueberry, wild raspberry and cranberry fruit. Certainly more red berry fruit here than Dofi or La Baixada. Subtle Mediterranean herbs and moss, too. Ripe yet still very layered, precise and ethereal. Succulent on the medium-bodied palate with fine, mealy tannins treading into a very long, mineral finish with nimble red berries.
Drink or hold
Zekun Shuai, JamesSuckling.com (September 2023)
The 2021 Les Aubaguetes hails from old vines planted in Bellmunt del Priorat. Purplish in hue, this wine exudes elegant aromas of cherry, raspberry, undergrowth and dried flowers. Dry and compact, typical of the energy found in Priorat wines, the palate reveals a dusty and juicy mouthfeel. This complex, infusion-like wine lingers with a finish of fruit and oak. Bellmunt is one of the warmest places in Priorat, and the 2021 embodies sun-born richness from start to finish.
Drink 2025 - 2036
Joaquín Hidalgo, Vinous.com (November 2024)
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)
Grenache/Garnacha
Grenache (Noir) is widely grown and comes in a variety of styles. Believed to originate in Spain, it was, in the late 20th century, the most widely planted black grape variety in the world. Today it hovers around seventh in the pecking order. It tends to produce very fruity, rich wines that can range quite widely in their level of tannin.
In many regions – most famously the Southern Rhône, where it complements Syrah and Mourvèdre, among other grapes – it adds backbone and colour to blends, but some of the most notable Châteauneuf du Pape producers (such as Château Rayas) make 100 percent Grenache wines. The grape is a component in many wines of the Languedoc (where you’ll also find its lighter-coloured forms, Grenache Gris and Blanc) and is responsible for much southern French rosé – taking the lead in most Provence styles.
Found all over Spain as Garnacha Tinta (spelt Garnaxa in Catalonia), the grape variety is increasingly detailed on wine labels there. Along with Tempranillo, it forms the majority of the blend for Rioja’s reds and has been adopted widely in Navarra, where it produces lighter styles of red and rosado (rosé). It can also be found operating under a pseudonym, Cannonau, in Sardinia.
Beyond Europe, Grenache is widely planted in California and Australia, largely thanks to its ability to operate in high temperatures and without much water. Particularly in the Barossa Valley, there are some extraordinary dry-farmed bush vines, some of which are centuries old and produce wines of startling intensity.
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
1,400 bottles were filled the 10th of February 2023.
The bottled 2021 Les Aubaguetes delivered what the barrel sample had promised (and more!) when I tasted it in June 2022. It was bottled with a contained pH of 3.45. It's composed of 71% Garnacha, 28% Cariñena and 1% white varieties that fermented with 55% full clusters in oak vats and then matured in oval French oak foudres for 12 months. It has to be the most elegant, ethereal and nuanced vintage of Les Aubaguetes so far, perfumed and full of energy and light.
The palate is symmetric, precise, like laser cut, harmonious and amazing. It's a very classical wine that develops plenty of different aromas with time in the glass, with hints of meat and blood, iron, violets, blood orange, aromatic herbs and flowers. There is an extra layer of complexity and elegance here; it's more ethereal and subtler, developing more and more nuances as the wine sat in the glass.
Drink 2024 - 2036
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (May 2024)
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