August 21, 2023 - Balsamic and strawberries on the nose. A pretty full-bodied garnacha, this starts with red fruit, the aforementioned balsamic, minerals on the mid-palate, and a slightly herbal medium finish. This is very soft, and doesn't display much oak or tar at all.
Pleasant enough to drink, and I can't imagine it gets much better from here. This was one of the better Priorats I've had, but I'm not rushing to add more to my cellar.
March 5, 2023 - Love this! Delicate, changes through attack, mid palate and finish. Lots of berry and currant notes with complex herb and spice elements. Velvet mouthfeel with flinty notes. At 13 yrs, no bricking with all kinds of room to run. If you have more, don’t be in a rush with good cellaring. Delighted, and also sad that this is my last - but I’m savoring.
August 27, 2022 - Interesting wine. Supposidly it should taste like Rayas from what I was told. Not really the case. Tasted more like a regualr C9P, not bad on its own by the way. Probably would benefit from more years in bottle.
August 21, 2021 - Really pleasing wine. Kinda hits all the notes of a delicious wine of this world-wide varietal. Beautiful balance and firing on all cylinders.
February 7, 2021 - 2 hr decant, and from the initial tastr probably could have used more, for despite its overall softness there is still quite a bit of tannin and acidity that is not quite balanced out - yet. So to my tastes this does not seem that close to maturity yet.
Scents of strawberry, raspberry, and cranberry are covered up by a little too much waxy vanilla - I have a note that says “vanilla pudding”. Some spearmint and after another hour + of air some anise shows up in the finish. This is another thing that makes me think this still needs a few more years in the dark. That said, it is very soft and enjoyable, but I think it will gain complexity with time to complement the pure enjoyment it gives now.
Score: 92. Relative to expectations: + maybe higher in about 5+ years.
July 3, 2020 - Just a wonderful wine with amazing complexity and a lovely round soft mouth feel with a touch of herbs on the finish
October 7, 2019 - Needed an hour to open up.
This is flat-out delicious! Medium dark ruby, very aromatic with a sweet nose of spicy berry compote, beeswax, lavender. On the palate, sweet-tart with a very long, silky finish, a bit saline. At peak but will last a decade.
October 5, 2017 - With air, aromas of strawberries, dried herbs, flowers and earth jump out of the glass. In the mouth, the wine is medium-bodied, incredibly refined and full of red fruits, minerals and aromatic spices. Some very high quality tannin makes an appearance on the seemingly endless, complex and refreshing finish. Simply flat-out outstanding winemaking here. A true standout, this bears more than a passing resemblance to a top vintage of Chateau Rayas. What a mind-bogglingly good Grenache! 97.