WTN: Anyone make drinkable Priorato? (long and trollish)

A trollish title, but I'm interested - does any producer there make wines that would to some extent cater to my taste (lean, green and Loireish and have no obvious oak aromatics, or otherwise funky and oxidative and always high acidity are the styles I tend to go for)?

Álvaro Palacios Les Terrasses 2004 14%abv 26€
30% garnacha, 60% cariñena, 10% cabernet sauvignon & syrah

The nose is barrique-like though apparently only 20% of the wood used is new. It smells very alcoholic and jammy, but has some redeeming earthy and vegetal notes. The palate is hot and sweet - confected even. It is softly tannic and has some acidity which keep the palate together, but unfortunately the alcoholic kick at the end is too strong for my tastes. Long.

I obviously didn't like it at all. I think that the label pretty much says what sort of wine this is: modern in style and the image at the center of the label is a wine barrel imbedded in a star - i.e. the oak is the star of the show. But I do think that if you aren't as sensitive to alcohol and sweet fruit as I am, this might be a great wine: it has depth and seems much more serious than a "third" wine should be (but then again, the price is very high also, so maybe this shouldn't have been a surprise). Young, though approachable. I would be curious to know how others like this!

-Otto-

Tasted few at wine bars but thats it. High alcohol and far too extracted, also mega bucks!!

Otto, poor response here on this forum ! The Brits over the pond seem to be more in tune eh.

If you are looking for that style of wine try the wines of Calce over the mountains in the Roussillon - Gauby, Pithon and Padie make wines that kind of fit your description.

I am puzzled though that if you like wines like that, why do you say Musar Rocks?

Plenty of drinkable Priorats, but if you want them to taste like Chinon or Brouilly, you're in trouble. Try Trio Infernal 1/3, by Combier-Fischer-Gerin.

I agree about Roussillon. Many of its producers, particularly Gauby, make wines far more to my taste than the few Priorats which I have tried, impressive though some of these are in a sip and spit context.

However Roussillon producers with whom I have spoken look with great envy on the prices obtained by their Catalan cousins in Priorat. I don't think that the French market would go for the Priorat style but, for those seeking Parker and WS points as an export marketing tool, imitation could be tempting.

[Robin Garr]

Álvaro Palacios Les Terrasses 2004

I had the pleasure of meeting Alvaro Palacious on a 1998 visit to Priorat, with Victor as a matter of fact, and enjoyed him immensely and enjoyed his wines and other Priorats in the region, which is quite a spectacular mountaintop zone.

That said, though, I don't think you're going to find <i>any</i> Priorat "Loirish." First, it's a matter of the grapes ... as others have said, Roussillon as a more apt French analogy, and it's not that much of a stretch to see it as a distant cousin of Chateauneuf-du-Pape - big, warm, Grenache-based.

It also strikes me that the decade since my visit has seen considerable drift by many Priorat producers in the direction of Parkerization. It's hard to blame them for making wine that will please The Master and bring back dollars by the bushel ... but frankly, I rarely buy Priorat nowadays because the current style isn't for me, and certainly not at current prices.

[David M. Bueker]

Why would anyone expect a warm climate region with significant amounts of Garnacha to make lean wines. Any Grenache (pardon my switch to the French) that is lean is almost certain to be underripe and more often than not undrinkable. It's not a grape that takes well to "early picking to preserve freshness."

It's not Parkerization, spoofulation or globalization; it's just what Grenache does well. I happen to prefer the more garrigue influenced CNdP, but Priorat can be a lovely experience if you are looking for richer style wines.

[Robin Garr]

Why would anyone expect a warm climate region with significant amounts of Garnacha to make lean wines. Any Grenache (pardon my switch to the French) that is lean is almost certain to be underripe and more often than not undrinkable. It's not a grape that takes well to "early picking to preserve freshness."

It's not Parkerization, spoofulation or globalization; it's just what Grenache does well. I happen to prefer the more garrigue influenced CNdP, but Priorat can be a lovely experience if you are looking for richer style wines.

David, your first paragraph hits the nail on the head, but I think you miss the mark in your second: It's true that Priorat will never be "Loirish" for all the reasons you state well. But having been watching Priorat for over a decade, I think it's undeniable that virtually all the producers - at least those making wine for export - have bumped up the extract, alcohol and oak for commercial reasons, and it's hard to overlook P@rker's influence on that.

Chaps, thanks for the names to seek out! I don't expect them to taste of Loire wines; I wrote that sentence to give an indication of my tastes in wines. Especially the pharse "otherwise funky and oxidative and always high acidity" was meant to indicate that I don't mind warm climate wines as long as there is something else that just fruit and oak - afterall, I do like Musar and have recently been raving about Barbaglio from Salento (which I understand is a blisteringly hot region?) and like some Beaucastels (especially from the good old days when they could be called Brettcastle!). I also thought that when I used to words "to some extent cater to my taste" that it would be understood that I won't expect a Loireish wine. Rather I meant that just as there are Bordeaux properties that will cater to the taste of those who prefer Californian wines and vice versa, I was wondering who might be the names that go for a less opulent style in Priorato. I hope my parsing of my text now makes certain things clearer - especially the one why I still like Musar.

-O-

I think it's undeniable that virtually all the producers - at least those making wine for export - have bumped up the extract, alcohol and oak for commercial reasons, and it's hard to overlook P@rker's influence on that.

I beg to differ, Robin. Priorat winemakers are a very diverse, highly individual lot - the closest thing Spain has to Burgundy or Barolo/Barbaresco as far as diversity goes. If there's a region in Spain where no common trait should be attributed to "virtually all the producers", it's certainly Priorat. And, in this case, I'd even go further: the great majority of them are doing what they think is appropriate for the region and are paying no heed to real or perceived RMP foibles. They don't really need to, anyhow: in a baking-hot region with those ultra-poor slate soils and ridiculously low yields, you don't have to bump up extract or alcohol - they come with the turf!

Actually, what we have seen over the past few years is an increasing confidence in the two great native varieties, carignan and grenache, and a progressively smaller reliance on the Bordeaux varieties that were brought in in the late 1970s to add tannic structure to what were then perceived as Mediterranean varieties with little aging potential.

With more grenache and old-vines carignan, the wines are becoming definitely more elegant, not more powerful than a decade ago. Of course, vintage variation being what it is, the power and concentration of a 2004 or 2001 will be clearly greater than in a 2002 or 2000. But that's not in deference to Parker - that's a fact of nature.

This trend is quite apparent within the 'gang of five' that pioneered the rebirth of Priorat since 1989. It's even more obvious with newer producers, memberts of the so-called 'second wave'. Grenache and/or carignan are now overwhelmingly dominant in the wines made by such producers as Combier-Fischer-Gerin, Vall Llach, Mas Romaní or Mas d'en Gil. Indeed, my newspaper's 'Spanish red wine of the year' in 2006 was a 100% carignan, Trio Infernal 2/3 Combier-Fischer-Gerin (same producers whose second wine, Trio Infernal 1/3, I already mentioned in this thread).

well, I read through thread, response forming in my head, but then David and Victor said what I was thinking more eloquently than I ever could.

As noted, one is never going to find a Loire-ish Priorat (I hope). I do tend to find many Priorats to be too much for my personal tastes. Victor's suggestion of the "Trio Infernal" second wine reminded me that I often find the moderately priced line more attractive than flagship models. That would hold true for Vall Llach (I usually like the Embruix more than the "Vall Llach") and Mas Doix, where I like the Salanques more than their top wine whose name I forget (although the 2004 Salanques was less attractive to me than some "lesser" vintages).

Actually, the 1/3 is more opulent than the amazing, pencil-sharp 2/3 - as can be deduced easily from the blend, since this is 60% grenache and 40% carignan (the carignan coming from younger vines than the 2/3, too).

[Robin Garr]

I beg to differ, Robin. Priorat winemakers are a very diverse, highly individual lot - the closest thing Spain has to Burgundy or Barolo/Barbaresco as far as diversity goes. If there's a region in Spain where no common trait should be attributed to "virtually all the producers", it's certainly Priorat. And, in this case, I'd even go further: the great majority of them are doing what they think is appropriate for the region and are paying no heed to real or perceived RMP foibles.

Points taken and respectfully received Victor, although please note that I qualified my opinion by limiting it to those exported (and, by inference, to the US). I can only say that I buy very little Priorat in the US any more because, to my tastes, I consistently find that the bottlings exported and easily available to me here seem to have become increasingly Parkerized over the decade since our visit.

Actually, the 1/3 is more opulent than the amazing, pencil-sharp 2/3 - as can be deduced easily from the blend, since this is 60% grenache and 40% carignan (the carignan coming from younger vines than the 2/3, too).

I haven't had the 1/3 (or 2/3), your mention of it being a second wine just reminded me of my personal purchases of 2nd/midrange Priorats. But out of curiosity, why did you feel the more opulent wine would fit Otto's taste?

He'd have a better chance of finding the 1/3 in Finland, I think - even though production of both is quite small. The 2/3 is also pricey, and I'd rather not advise expensive wines that may not be liked in the end! But, even with the grenache's well-known attributes of more alcohol and more upfront fruit than the more austere carignan, both these wines (made by the joint venture of Laurent Combier, Jean-Michel Gerin and Peter Fischer with Pep Aguilar as their very able local man and main winemaker) are admirably delineated and complex.