Decanted - with lots of sediment - and followed: Upon opening: relatively low fruit and high acid After 30 minutes: the wine darkens (color and fruit profile) and adds weight After 60 minutes: ready to pair with, and stand up to the leg of lamb The color was a medium plus to dark purple - fading to a lighter rim. Lots of dark fruits on the nose along with some chocolate and just a hint of tobacco. The medium to plus bodied palate showed blackberry, dark cherry, lots of spice, the chocolate note and a touch of dried herbs. The acidity was up to the challenge of balancing all of these flavors and there was just a touch of tannin on the finish - telling me that this wine will pass the two-decade mark.
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Great Priorat! Prune, plum, dark chocolate, fig, espresso, full body, bramble, great balance between dark fruit and tobacco notes, powerful long finish.
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In hindsight, I should have decanted this monster blend of 60% old vine Carignan, 20% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon (with the remaining 5% probably being grenache). It has some sediment and it definitely benefits from air. Slightly hazy, deep ruby with a purple core and a hint of garnet on the rim. The legs are thick and glass-staining. The nose is clean, with medium (+) to pronounced aromas of overripe blackberries, prunes, dried figs, raisins, licorice, dark chocolate, black pepper, leather and oak spice. The nose is developed, complex, and keeps evolving as the wine aerates. The palate is dry, but fruit-forward, with medium to medium (+) acidity, medium to medium (+), resolved tannins and high alcohol (15.2%). The alcohol, while adding to the heft is not particularly hot on the palate. The palate is consistent with the nose and is reminiscent of an Amarone. The palate combines the jammy fruit with a balsamic, savory spice finish. This wine is full-bodied, with great flavor intensity and a very long finish. It is a huge, Parkeresque wine, but manages to be balanced and well integrated. It is made in a very modern, international style, with no clear markers to tag it as a Spanish wine. Still, it is mighty fine now, if you are a fan of this style, and has the potential to continue to evolve for the next several years.
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Creme de cassis, dark chocolate, earth, black currant, creme de cassis, blackberries, espresso, full body, in a great spot, a finish that keeps on giving!
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Spicey full bodied Priorat that is powerful and is elegant, velvety, I love it! Balsamic note, coffee, dark chocolate, prum, laurel, espresso, dark raspberries, light acidic, superb long finish.
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Had for a birthday celebration at La Cuchara with lamb shoulder. Lush fruit to start. Right after opening there was a bit of a bitter taste on the finish but it resolved as it sat in the decanter.
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Already seems a bit tired... Cinnamon, orange peel, sundried tomatoes, chocolate and kirsch. Still alive, still a big wine (15,5%), cruising through midlife, but way more impressive and interesting as a youngster.
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My first Val Llach, it blew my away! So elegant, balanced, seductive, full body, cinnamon, dark chocolate, mature peach, plum, peppery note, great smooth long aftertaste
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Dark garnet color in the glass, clear looking throughout. Nose of leather, pepper, berries and plums. Flavors of berries, cherries and sweet plums. Medium acidity, medium to firm tannin, full bodied. Drink or hold.
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Clean, developing, dark fruit, herbs, spice, mineral. Dry, great structure, cinnamon, spice, slightly sweet, prune, sweet tobacco, good length. Grippy tannins. Can keep for another 5-7 years!
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A very good, big, fruit forward and still quite youthful newer more international style Spanish priorat blend of cabernet, merlot and carignane - a very good wine but definitely less distinctly Spanish. In a good drinking window and at least a decade to go with proper cellaring. A reasonable QPR. This was enjoyed at the inaugural tasting of our new wine club earlier this week. Opened up for about two hours in the wine glass w/out an otherwise formal decant and I definitely recommend a decant of at least 1-2 hours if time allows. Big but softening, still quite fruit forward, well balanced, good mouth feel, very dark purple and a very good lengthy aftertaste. Big nose of dark fruit, cinnamon and baking spices with a flavor profile of balanced oak, cassis, dark stone fruit, earth and tar with black pepper and all spice tones developing late on the palate. Highly recommend this wine.
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Spanish wines with Petaluma tasting group, Pt. 1 (Tessa's): Silky smooth, juicy, sweet with blueberry. Bright and jammy. Very fine light tannins. Very ripe with tobacco. Pruney. Too big, sweet & pruney for me. But a very suave beautiful wine that some people will love.
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3rd Spaniards meeting, 6 months after returning from the Oct 2013 Spain wine tour (At Yair's): one of the great Priorats on its own, especially among those for less than €50. 60% Carinyena (Carignan), 20% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon (5% others) - while usually Grenach is dominant among Priorat wines. palate is thick, tarry, perfumed, ample blackberries, nutmeg, liquorice and chocolate , with power, depth, memorable sensual aroma, round present tannins, rich powerful sweet fruit, great complexity. long minty-chocolatey and mineral finish. can last another 20 years.
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Black with a deep ruby rim. Rocky earthiness on the nose with a lot of sweet black cherry and blackberry essence. Silky on the palate, medium to full bodied with great grip through the middle and a long finish.
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Very nice with just a pop and pour. Opened up over several hours but could benefit from an hour decant. Great dark dense fruit with a brambly earthiness. Really love these Priorat wines.
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Had this true beauty of a wine to celebrate my daughter's first birthday. It's only the second time in my tasting life I think a wine deserves 97 points on the conventional American scale. This is a tremendous tour-de-force, not only one of the great Priorats - no doubt up there with the legendary l'Ermita - but standing shoulder-to-shoulder with giants from France and Italy. And without doubt, there can be few other, perhaps no other, Carignan-based wines that can match it for power, depth, complexity and utterly memorable beauty. It's 60% Carinyena (Carignan), 20% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon (the remaining 5% unknown) - very unusual for a Priorat to not be principally Grenache. Instantly this is special: the thick, tarry, blue-black colour, the dense, almost oily rivulets, and the soaring perfume: crushed blackberries, allspice, nutmeg, dates, liquorice and chocolate. The tannins are softening (you should have seen what they were like on the 2005 around 2008-09) and the central core on the palate is one of sweet fruit, like a delicious breakfast damson conserve, and layers and layers of cascading complexity, with every spicy nuance offset by a creamy sweetness. There's a ridiculously long finish that's minty and chocolatey and mineral. It goes on and on and gets more delicious and extraordinary as it evolves. This is a monster of a wine that reaches out to experienced drinkers, and yet it could serve as an introduction to greatness to anyone who wanted to know not just what Priorat was all about, but who wanted to know how amazing wine can be. There is no doubt that this will last at least another 20 years. I have just one bottle left...
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limited notes nose - plum, licorice mouth - juicy rich red and more so dark fruit, with a long dark finish. delicious and full bodied, drinking well now. a beaut.
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Excellent wine, based on the 2002, will age well for a 2-3 more years with a little more time for the oak and tannin to integrate with the fruit and earth flavors.
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A very odd nose to this wine, not quite what I expected. There’s a huge wall of what seems to be almond skin powder, and clinging hiding behind it is a wonderful aroma of dark fruits, cocoa shavings, and a slight hint of vanilla. However, the alcohol is so strong on the nose that it burns! On the palate it is filled with sweet dark fruits, chocolate, cinnamon; it coats the entire palate and leaves a long finish. The wine is very thick and viscous, with a smooth satin like texture. The wine is very smooth, and it flows throughout the palate flawlessly. The only thing that I dislike is that this wine is very “Parker-esque”. In no way does it remind me of any Priorat, but rather it’s the typical high alcohol fruit driven wine. I was looking forward to a more traditional Priorat with this effort that exalts the terroir of Porrera, but I was very disappointed. At that price I could buy more bottles and expect better results!
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What a major tour-de-force, just a blockbuster huge and tasty Spanish red Catalonian blend (primarily priorat) cult wine. Enjoyed last night at an outstanding pre-Valentine's "Wines Of Passion" tasting at the Hickory Wine Shoppe in Hickory NC with Kim, good CT buddy neighborbill and spouse Debbie. Very expensive and too expensive to be any kind of a reasonable QPR but what a great wine, just highly recommend this. Initially very young and tight but opened up rapidly in glass thus this wine really needs decanting at this point. Big bold black wine with good mouth feel and almost teeth staining properties, a long lingering aftertaste. Nose of earth, mild initial barnyard, cinnamon and dark stone fruit. Primary flavors included earth, tar, blackberry, allspice and black pepper.
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Pow! Bamm-o! Imagine the graphics of the old Batman TV series and you have this wine pegged. Gobs of fruit, staves of confected oak-forged candy. I was in the mood to punish myself and this wine (and its 15.1% ) did the trick.
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Another amazingly brooding specimen from Vall Llach, this backward wine features a complex array of smoke, pain grille, anise and chocolate notes wrapped around an iron core of mouth-coating black fruit and tannins. This wine has decades of life before it, and I wouldn't even think of touching this again for at least another 5 years to check in on its progress.
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1/13/2024 - VlgJeff Likes this wine: 94 Points
Decanted - with lots of sediment - and followed:
Upon opening: relatively low fruit and high acid
After 30 minutes: the wine darkens (color and fruit profile) and adds weight
After 60 minutes: ready to pair with, and stand up to the leg of lamb
The color was a medium plus to dark purple - fading to a lighter rim. Lots of dark fruits on the nose along with some chocolate and just a hint of tobacco. The medium to plus bodied palate showed blackberry, dark cherry, lots of spice, the chocolate note and a touch of dried herbs. The acidity was up to the challenge of balancing all of these flavors and there was just a touch of tannin on the finish - telling me that this wine will pass the two-decade mark.
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12/17/2022 - rpk99 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Still going strong. Remains fresh, with tons of grip and character.
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11/29/2021 - curtr Likes this wine: 92 Points
rich, fully developed, drink now-2023.
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10/8/2021 - Mark van Delft Likes this wine: 94 Points
Great Priorat! Prune, plum, dark chocolate, fig, espresso, full body, bramble, great balance between dark fruit and tobacco notes, powerful long finish.
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8/25/2021 - curtr Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted 1 hr., great with swordfish, drink now-2023.
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4/2/2021 - curtr Likes this wine: 92 Points
Bold, intense, decanted 1 hour. Drink now-2023.
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6/5/2020 - curtr Likes this wine:
Decanted 1.5 hrs. Nice depth and character, full body. Drink now-2023.
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7/5/2019 - TannicBeast Likes this wine: 95 Points
In hindsight, I should have decanted this monster blend of 60% old vine Carignan, 20% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon (with the remaining 5% probably being grenache). It has some sediment and it definitely benefits from air. Slightly hazy, deep ruby with a purple core and a hint of garnet on the rim. The legs are thick and glass-staining. The nose is clean, with medium (+) to pronounced aromas of overripe blackberries, prunes, dried figs, raisins, licorice, dark chocolate, black pepper, leather and oak spice. The nose is developed, complex, and keeps evolving as the wine aerates. The palate is dry, but fruit-forward, with medium to medium (+) acidity, medium to medium (+), resolved tannins and high alcohol (15.2%). The alcohol, while adding to the heft is not particularly hot on the palate. The palate is consistent with the nose and is reminiscent of an Amarone. The palate combines the jammy fruit with a balsamic, savory spice finish. This wine is full-bodied, with great flavor intensity and a very long finish. It is a huge, Parkeresque wine, but manages to be balanced and well integrated. It is made in a very modern, international style, with no clear markers to tag it as a Spanish wine. Still, it is mighty fine now, if you are a fan of this style, and has the potential to continue to evolve for the next several years.
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12/31/2018 - Mark van Delft Likes this wine: 96 Points
Creme de cassis, dark chocolate, earth, black currant, creme de cassis, blackberries, espresso, full body, in a great spot, a finish that keeps on giving!
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11/15/2018 - Mark van Delft Likes this wine: 94 Points
Spicey full bodied Priorat that is powerful and is elegant, velvety, I love it! Balsamic note, coffee, dark chocolate, prum, laurel, espresso, dark raspberries, light acidic, superb long finish.
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9/7/2018 - MrD Likes this wine:
Had for a birthday celebration at La Cuchara with lamb shoulder. Lush fruit to start. Right after opening there was a bit of a bitter taste on the finish but it resolved as it sat in the decanter.
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5/29/2018 - Mark van Delft Likes this wine: 93 Points
Love this Priorat blend, power and elegance, sigar, spicey note, sweat mature cherries, plum, balanced oak, great long finish!
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10/7/2017 - rpk99 Likes this wine: 94 Points
TJ and Cara over for visit
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8/21/2017 - jkoenen wrote: 89 Points
Already seems a bit tired...
Cinnamon, orange peel, sundried tomatoes, chocolate and kirsch. Still alive, still a big wine (15,5%), cruising through midlife, but way more impressive and interesting as a youngster.
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8/11/2017 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 92 Points
Delicious wine. Still youthful and great depth.
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4/14/2017 - Mark van Delft Likes this wine: 95 Points
My first Val Llach, it blew my away! So elegant, balanced, seductive, full body, cinnamon, dark chocolate, mature peach, plum, peppery note, great smooth long aftertaste
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2/18/2017 - wineismylife wrote: 93 Points
WIML93
Tasted non blind.
Dark garnet color in the glass, clear looking throughout. Nose of leather, pepper, berries and plums. Flavors of berries, cherries and sweet plums. Medium acidity, medium to firm tannin, full bodied. Drink or hold.
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1/9/2017 - pomelo Does not like this wine: 88 Points
Du gros sirop pour la toux. Décevant...
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12/2/2016 - DanielPasalic wrote: 98 Points
Clean, developing, dark fruit, herbs, spice, mineral.
Dry, great structure, cinnamon, spice, slightly sweet, prune, sweet tobacco, good length. Grippy tannins.
Can keep for another 5-7 years!
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4/18/2016 - ikkaariainen Likes this wine: 93 Points
A very good, big, fruit forward and still quite youthful newer more international style Spanish priorat blend of cabernet, merlot and carignane - a very good wine but definitely less distinctly Spanish. In a good drinking window and at least a decade to go with proper cellaring. A reasonable QPR. This was enjoyed at the inaugural tasting of our new wine club earlier this week. Opened up for about two hours in the wine glass w/out an otherwise formal decant and I definitely recommend a decant of at least 1-2 hours if time allows. Big but softening, still quite fruit forward, well balanced, good mouth feel, very dark purple and a very good lengthy aftertaste. Big nose of dark fruit, cinnamon and baking spices with a flavor profile of balanced oak, cassis, dark stone fruit, earth and tar with black pepper and all spice tones developing late on the palate. Highly recommend this wine.
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3/13/2015 - MRichman wrote:
Spanish wines with Petaluma tasting group, Pt. 1 (Tessa's): Silky smooth, juicy, sweet with blueberry. Bright and jammy. Very fine light tannins. Very ripe with tobacco. Pruney. Too big, sweet & pruney for me. But a very suave beautiful wine that some people will love.
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11/25/2014 - dougsmith Likes this wine: 93 Points
Similar to my last note; the depth and precision of this wine is really excellent. Some sweet tobacco and spice as well.
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4/30/2014 - pomelo wrote: 89 Points
Fruits confits, boisé, légèrement chocolaté et sucré. Costaud mais équilibré. À laisser vieillir encore 5 ans.
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4/24/2014 - Yagil wrote: 92 Points
3rd Spaniards meeting, 6 months after returning from the Oct 2013 Spain wine tour (At Yair's): one of the great Priorats on its own, especially among those for less than €50.
60% Carinyena (Carignan), 20% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon (5% others) - while usually Grenach is dominant among Priorat wines.
palate is thick, tarry, perfumed, ample blackberries, nutmeg, liquorice and chocolate , with power, depth, memorable sensual aroma, round present tannins, rich powerful sweet fruit, great complexity.
long minty-chocolatey and mineral finish.
can last another 20 years.
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12/23/2013 - dougsmith Likes this wine: 92 Points
Black with a deep ruby rim. Rocky earthiness on the nose with a lot of sweet black cherry and blackberry essence. Silky on the palate, medium to full bodied with great grip through the middle and a long finish.
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4/19/2013 - Biglama Likes this wine: 92 Points
fraaie wijn, donkere tonen, licht romig, zacht, nog in goede conditie
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4/5/2013 - avp wrote: flawed
Corked. Really a shame since it seemed so delicious.
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2/9/2013 - rpk99 Likes this wine: 95 Points
dark berry nose, velvet on the tongue, beautiful weight, complexity of flavor ending in a leathery aftertaste. a wow wine.
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12/31/2012 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 94 Points
Very nice with just a pop and pour. Opened up over several hours but could benefit from an hour decant. Great dark dense fruit with a brambly earthiness. Really love these Priorat wines.
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11/23/2012 - cubswinws wrote: 95 Points
Incredible wine. So rich,earthy,dark, soft kiss of herbs. Everything in balance and drinking at its peak. I just loved this wine.
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9/22/2012 - NuTricks wrote:
This is produced from estate old-vine fruit consisting of 65% Carinena/Carignan, 20% Merlot, and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon(***not Grenache***).
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9/20/2012 - ricard Likes this wine: 97 Points
Had this true beauty of a wine to celebrate my daughter's first birthday. It's only the second time in my tasting life I think a wine deserves 97 points on the conventional American scale. This is a tremendous tour-de-force, not only one of the great Priorats - no doubt up there with the legendary l'Ermita - but standing shoulder-to-shoulder with giants from France and Italy. And without doubt, there can be few other, perhaps no other, Carignan-based wines that can match it for power, depth, complexity and utterly memorable beauty. It's 60% Carinyena (Carignan), 20% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon (the remaining 5% unknown) - very unusual for a Priorat to not be principally Grenache. Instantly this is special: the thick, tarry, blue-black colour, the dense, almost oily rivulets, and the soaring perfume: crushed blackberries, allspice, nutmeg, dates, liquorice and chocolate. The tannins are softening (you should have seen what they were like on the 2005 around 2008-09) and the central core on the palate is one of sweet fruit, like a delicious breakfast damson conserve, and layers and layers of cascading complexity, with every spicy nuance offset by a creamy sweetness. There's a ridiculously long finish that's minty and chocolatey and mineral. It goes on and on and gets more delicious and extraordinary as it evolves. This is a monster of a wine that reaches out to experienced drinkers, and yet it could serve as an introduction to greatness to anyone who wanted to know not just what Priorat was all about, but who wanted to know how amazing wine can be. There is no doubt that this will last at least another 20 years. I have just one bottle left...
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9/1/2012 - soyhead wrote: 94 Points
limited notes
nose - plum, licorice
mouth - juicy rich red and more so dark fruit, with a long dark finish. delicious and full bodied, drinking well now. a beaut.
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3/2/2012 - Vstalam wrote: 93 Points
Excellent wine, based on the 2002, will age well for a 2-3 more years with a little more time for the oak and tannin to integrate with the fruit and earth flavors.
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2/11/2011 - il_diavolo wrote: 88 Points
Very big, very bold. Dark purple, lots of oak. In my view overdone and nearly port-like sweetness.
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3/27/2010 - Gobi wrote: 88 Points
A very odd nose to this wine, not quite what I expected. There’s a huge wall of what seems to be almond skin powder, and clinging hiding behind it is a wonderful aroma of dark fruits, cocoa shavings, and a slight hint of vanilla. However, the alcohol is so strong on the nose that it burns! On the palate it is filled with sweet dark fruits, chocolate, cinnamon; it coats the entire palate and leaves a long finish. The wine is very thick and viscous, with a smooth satin like texture. The wine is very smooth, and it flows throughout the palate flawlessly. The only thing that I dislike is that this wine is very “Parker-esque”. In no way does it remind me of any Priorat, but rather it’s the typical high alcohol fruit driven wine. I was looking forward to a more traditional Priorat with this effort that exalts the terroir of Porrera, but I was very disappointed. At that price I could buy more bottles and expect better results!
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7/24/2009 - T-Mac wrote: flawed
ethyl acetate - the nail polish remover flaw
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2/11/2009 - ikkaariainen wrote: 93 Points
What a major tour-de-force, just a blockbuster huge and tasty Spanish red Catalonian blend (primarily priorat) cult wine. Enjoyed last night at an outstanding pre-Valentine's "Wines Of Passion" tasting at the Hickory Wine Shoppe in Hickory NC with Kim, good CT buddy neighborbill and spouse Debbie. Very expensive and too expensive to be any kind of a reasonable QPR but what a great wine, just highly recommend this. Initially very young and tight but opened up rapidly in glass thus this wine really needs decanting at this point. Big bold black wine with good mouth feel and almost teeth staining properties, a long lingering aftertaste. Nose of earth, mild initial barnyard, cinnamon and dark stone fruit. Primary flavors included earth, tar, blackberry, allspice and black pepper.
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6/8/2008 - AndrewSGHall wrote:
Pow! Bamm-o! Imagine the graphics of the old Batman TV series and you have this wine pegged. Gobs of fruit, staves of confected oak-forged candy. I was in the mood to punish myself and this wine (and its 15.1% ) did the trick.
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6/7/2008 - Li6 wrote: 96 Points
Another amazingly brooding specimen from Vall Llach, this backward wine features a complex array of smoke, pain grille, anise and chocolate notes wrapped around an iron core of mouth-coating black fruit and tannins. This wine has decades of life before it, and I wouldn't even think of touching this again for at least another 5 years to check in on its progress.
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2/15/2007 - MRichman wrote:
Valentine's Magnum Massacre (Triomphe, NYC): Blueberry, full fruited, spicy, vanilla, sweet fruit. Some fine tannins. A very big wine. Very young.
B/B+
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