Lot 49 2004 Priorat D.O.Q.
- Vintage: 2004
- Appellation: Spain
- Grape: 48% Grenache, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 12% Syrah, 10% Carignan
- Alcohol by volume: 14.5%
- Production: 600 cases
- Release date: March 3, 2008
- Online availability: Sold out
Taste: This wine is a blend of traditional and modern varieties aged in older American and French oak barrels and bottle aged before release. The resulting wine is an intense bracken fruit style with prominent notes of ripe blackberries and backed blueberries. It is almost like the slate and mineral aromas transport you to Priorat and the low yielding vines have ensured chewy flavors on the palate with concentrated fruit slowly making way to velvet tannins derived both from the berry and the barrel. The warmth of the wine persists and makes for a great pairing for a traditional food like oven baked goat or lamb. Also, due to the minimalist handling of the wine, an hour or so of decanting prior to serving will benefit.
Cameron Confidential: Often, it is the most valuable things sitting on your back door step that you fail to recognize. So it is for the Spanish with wine of Priorat. Wine has been made in this region since the 12th century and flourished for many years until the 20th century when the region was devastated by the dreaded vine louse phylloxera. Most of the region was never replanted and the remaining vineyards quietly went about there lot producing low yielding, concentrated red wines. Recently, the revival of Priorat has been nothing short of spectacular with the wine world clamoring for the limited supply and causing prices to skyrocket.
The region has a special schist soil base known as llicorella which is a brown slate and rock base. The locals believe it absorbs the warmth of the daytime sun and releases it during the cold mountain nights to mysteriously aid the ripening of the grapes. The region is isolated and wild and all vineyards are tended by hand on traditional terrace platforms amongst some of the most spectacular views imaginable.
The 2004 vintage was one of the best vintages for many years in the region due to the cooler summer and light rain falling before harvest allowing for extended ripening and pciking each variety just as the fullness of the flavor hit their peak.
The main varietals in the area is Grenache (Garnacha) and Carignan (Carinena) but there have been some good plantings of more international varieties on the old sites and these are complimenting the traditional flavors beautifully.
