This is the second vintage ever of this wine, made mainly with contracted grapes, some from very old - even centenarian - vineyards, harvested between early October and late November. The blend consists of old-vine Cariñena (40%), Cabernet Sauvignon (25%), Merlot (20%), Garnacha (10%) and Syrah (5%). The grapes were crushed and cold-soaked prior to fermentation for 3 days, then fermented for two weeks in stainless steel. After the fermentation the wine was macerated with the skins for another week or so, until it was pressed into stainless steel tanks (50%) and oak casks (50%) for MLF. Finally the wine is aged for 14 months in second use (60%) and new (40%) French oak barrels ranging from 225 to 300 liters in size. Total production 11,760 bottles. Bottled in June 2004. 14,5% alcohol.
Very dark, quite concentrated and rather opaque black cherry color. Evolved, somewhat tertiary nose with rather sweet dried-fruit aromas of raisins, cherry marmalade, some very ripe dark plums, a little bit of blueberry juice, light toasty notes of sweet oak spice, a hint of cranberry sauce and a touch of prunes. The wine is ripe, juicy and somewhat extracted on the palate with a full body and intense flavors of sweet dark plums, some savory wood spice, a little bit of ripe blackcurrant, light blueberry juice notes, a hint of stony minerality and a touch of dried figs. The overall feel is quite firm and muscular, thanks to the rather high acidity and quite ample ripe tannins that slowly pile up on the gums. The finish is juicy, rich and somewhat grippy with a quite lengthy aftertaste of raisins, some prunes, a little bit of dried dates, light gravelly mineral tones, a hint of overripe strawberry and a touch of toasty oak spice.
A rich, firm yet somewhat mellow and quite evolved Priorat that is pretty much peaking now. The wine shows quite good sense of finesse and harmony for such a big and ripe wine, but the overall feel is getting a bit too sweet and pruney for my taste. There's good sense of structure and the wine is brimming with lush fruit, but what remains here, feels quite evolved and raisiny - even if there is some complexity, it still feels a bit one-note. This is tasty and enjoyable stuff, but nothing that would blow my socks off. A nice example of aged Priorat, but the more I taste these, the more I start to think that these wines never were, are or will be particularly interesting - in my experience they are all too often just big, ripe and extracted wines which, at some point, just start to turn pruney, then slowly fall apart. Most likely this wine won't keep for that long before it is goners, so best to drink sooner rather than later.
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Enjoyed at a Chaine dinner in Charlotte NC and paired beautifully with a dish of shaved lamb. Opened in the bottle about 2 hours before serving, not decanted. This wine takes a long time to mature and this vintage is now in a mature drinking window and truly firing on all cylinders. A very interesting Priorat blend, 40% Carinena and 10% Garnatxa which are the backbone of traditional Priorat winemaking with additional less traditional Rhone and Bdx grapes added (25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Syrah) making this a Super Priorat in the same sense that Super Tuscans are Super Tuscans by the addition of non-traditional grapes. This is very Old World and made in a reductive style as a collaboration between the Vall Llach estate and surrounding smaller farms that grow old vine grapes. Very dark purple in color, almost squid ink like, with a warm fruity nose and a lighter interesting minty or almost clove note. Very well balanced, fully integrated, oak mostly gone but balanced tannins still present and a long beautiful lingering aftertaste. On the flavor profile the carignan and merlot dominate with a surprising amount of fruit initially present followed in the mid- and late palates by more terroir driven earthier notes with clove also distinctly present. Highly recommend this and this wine is a very good QPR ratio. Has a good 5-10 years left so no hurry but also at peak and probably no further upside in additional cellaring.
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well you wait long enough and good things come your way. 02 indus is just starting to hit it's stride. floral notes and subtle chocolate and graphite on the nose. tannins still fading, more time still. dark chewy ink black purple, stiil this flower is just getting going. can't wait till next bottle in 2 yrs and then next 2yrs after that. blew away mas doix sal 03 we drank the next night.
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Crumbling cork. Inky black with the prominent spice/licorice notes others have described. Was expecting a bigger wine- this was pretty demure. Solid tannic structure with plenty of dark fruits. Something lacking though, not sure why. I just didn't "connect" with wine even though it had characteristics of which I'm usually a fan...
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A really interesting wine. Good nose with black fruits and clove. Mouth of Cloves, plumb, some green veggies. Good balance between the tannin and body, holds its alcohol well. Not for new world fans, this is more of a terrior driven wine and defiantly has a sense of "place."
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Beautiful magenta, almost "squid-ink" (buddy's description) color. Nose of dark fruit, anise/black licorice, and that old clove gum (was it Beecham's). Flavors carry through to the palate with a bit of cedar and a hint of smoke. Unfortunately, the finish is quite clipped and renders this somewhat unsatisfying. Hopefully, this is just a characteristic of a weak vintage. Decent wine, but hoped for better.
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This was a very strange wine. I was not real impressed considering this is about $50 a bottle retail. I have had much better Priorats. The fruit was there, upfront and in your face. Loads of dark fruit and strong anise flavors. The tannin structure and the integration of this wine is a bit off, I can't quite put my finger on it, but for a wine this expensive it's fairly average. It's not a bad wine, but it's not real memorable either. There are probably at least a hundred other wines that you would be better off spending your $50 bucks on. Don't bother with this one.
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3/22/2022 - forceberry wrote: 88 Points
This is the second vintage ever of this wine, made mainly with contracted grapes, some from very old - even centenarian - vineyards, harvested between early October and late November. The blend consists of old-vine Cariñena (40%), Cabernet Sauvignon (25%), Merlot (20%), Garnacha (10%) and Syrah (5%). The grapes were crushed and cold-soaked prior to fermentation for 3 days, then fermented for two weeks in stainless steel. After the fermentation the wine was macerated with the skins for another week or so, until it was pressed into stainless steel tanks (50%) and oak casks (50%) for MLF. Finally the wine is aged for 14 months in second use (60%) and new (40%) French oak barrels ranging from 225 to 300 liters in size. Total production 11,760 bottles. Bottled in June 2004. 14,5% alcohol.
Very dark, quite concentrated and rather opaque black cherry color. Evolved, somewhat tertiary nose with rather sweet dried-fruit aromas of raisins, cherry marmalade, some very ripe dark plums, a little bit of blueberry juice, light toasty notes of sweet oak spice, a hint of cranberry sauce and a touch of prunes. The wine is ripe, juicy and somewhat extracted on the palate with a full body and intense flavors of sweet dark plums, some savory wood spice, a little bit of ripe blackcurrant, light blueberry juice notes, a hint of stony minerality and a touch of dried figs. The overall feel is quite firm and muscular, thanks to the rather high acidity and quite ample ripe tannins that slowly pile up on the gums. The finish is juicy, rich and somewhat grippy with a quite lengthy aftertaste of raisins, some prunes, a little bit of dried dates, light gravelly mineral tones, a hint of overripe strawberry and a touch of toasty oak spice.
A rich, firm yet somewhat mellow and quite evolved Priorat that is pretty much peaking now. The wine shows quite good sense of finesse and harmony for such a big and ripe wine, but the overall feel is getting a bit too sweet and pruney for my taste. There's good sense of structure and the wine is brimming with lush fruit, but what remains here, feels quite evolved and raisiny - even if there is some complexity, it still feels a bit one-note. This is tasty and enjoyable stuff, but nothing that would blow my socks off. A nice example of aged Priorat, but the more I taste these, the more I start to think that these wines never were, are or will be particularly interesting - in my experience they are all too often just big, ripe and extracted wines which, at some point, just start to turn pruney, then slowly fall apart. Most likely this wine won't keep for that long before it is goners, so best to drink sooner rather than later.
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8/27/2021 - ikkaariainen Likes this wine: 94 Points
Enjoyed at a Chaine dinner in Charlotte NC and paired beautifully with a dish of shaved lamb. Opened in the bottle about 2 hours before serving, not decanted. This wine takes a long time to mature and this vintage is now in a mature drinking window and truly firing on all cylinders. A very interesting Priorat blend, 40% Carinena and 10% Garnatxa which are the backbone of traditional Priorat winemaking with additional less traditional Rhone and Bdx grapes added (25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Syrah) making this a Super Priorat in the same sense that Super Tuscans are Super Tuscans by the addition of non-traditional grapes. This is very Old World and made in a reductive style as a collaboration between the Vall Llach estate and surrounding smaller farms that grow old vine grapes. Very dark purple in color, almost squid ink like, with a warm fruity nose and a lighter interesting minty or almost clove note. Very well balanced, fully integrated, oak mostly gone but balanced tannins still present and a long beautiful lingering aftertaste. On the flavor profile the carignan and merlot dominate with a surprising amount of fruit initially present followed in the mid- and late palates by more terroir driven earthier notes with clove also distinctly present. Highly recommend this and this wine is a very good QPR ratio. Has a good 5-10 years left so no hurry but also at peak and probably no further upside in additional cellaring.
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10/26/2013 - RDAwine Likes this wine: 92 Points
well you wait long enough and good things come your way. 02 indus is just starting to hit it's stride. floral notes and subtle chocolate and graphite on the nose. tannins still fading, more time still. dark chewy ink black purple, stiil this flower is just getting going. can't wait till next bottle in 2 yrs and then next 2yrs after that. blew away mas doix sal 03 we drank the next night.
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1/4/2010 - mjf@ulkner wrote: 84 Points
Crumbling cork. Inky black with the prominent spice/licorice notes others have described. Was expecting a bigger wine- this was pretty demure. Solid tannic structure with plenty of dark fruits. Something lacking though, not sure why. I just didn't "connect" with wine even though it had characteristics of which I'm usually a fan...
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7/15/2008 - DQuinn wrote: 89 Points
A really interesting wine. Good nose with black fruits and clove. Mouth of Cloves, plumb, some green veggies. Good balance between the tannin and body, holds its alcohol well. Not for new world fans, this is more of a terrior driven wine and defiantly has a sense of "place."
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4/28/2008 - RDAwine Likes this wine: 90 Points
way to young
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2/16/2008 - tskrueger wrote: 84 Points
Beautiful magenta, almost "squid-ink" (buddy's description) color. Nose of dark fruit, anise/black licorice, and that old clove gum (was it Beecham's). Flavors carry through to the palate with a bit of cedar and a hint of smoke. Unfortunately, the finish is quite clipped and renders this somewhat unsatisfying. Hopefully, this is just a characteristic of a weak vintage. Decent wine, but hoped for better.
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8/2/2007 - boxwine_in_hell wrote: 84 Points
This was a very strange wine. I was not real impressed considering this is about $50 a bottle retail. I have had much better Priorats. The fruit was there, upfront and in your face. Loads of dark fruit and strong anise flavors. The tannin structure and the integration of this wine is a bit off, I can't quite put my finger on it, but for a wine this expensive it's fairly average. It's not a bad wine, but it's not real memorable either. There are probably at least a hundred other wines that you would be better off spending your $50 bucks on. Don't bother with this one.
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