Bodegas La Cartuja Priorat, DOCa, 2017
A short trip over the border of southwest France will leave you Spain, in the community of Catalonia. In the late 1100’s, monks decided to start growing grapes in the unique volcanic sandy soil containing slate and quartz. In fact, much of the soil is composed of broken pieces of slate, imparting a dark color on the soil, appropriately termed llicorella.By no coincidence, this wine looks and tastes like liquid black licorice in a glass, with touches of espresso and undertones of dark berries. As the vineyard plant roots extend through the rocky soil in search of water that rests within the clay soil in Priorat, these roots can broach as much as 60 feet below the ground. These difficult growing conditions greatly stress the grapes and vines growing in Priorat, and leave them with a highly concentrated wine that, also in search of water, rips all the moisture out of your mouth, leaving it instead with the taste and feel of minerality.
These wines also generally have a high alcohol content at around 15% and a high acidity. The major grapes on the old vines in Priorat are Garnacha and Cariñena (also known as Carignan), and La Cartuja is a blend of both, with Garnacha topping the blend at 70%.
At around $19, La Cartuja was very reasonably priced for a quality wine, and unbelievably priced for a Priorat, which, as the region gains notoriety is also witnessing an escalation in prices commensurate with the upward slopes of its landscape. It was aged in oak for 6 months, providing plenty of lignans. It is an organically produced wine and was rated 92 points by Wine and Spirits. In other words, we will be having this wine much more often – that is, assuming we can get out hands on it.
© 2019 – Healthiest Pour
70% Garnacha, 30% Cariñena
13 years old
20 days
Light fining with egg albumin, light filtration
Aged in new and used French oak for 6 months
Organic vineyard practices, impermeable soil and hand-picked
8.5/10
