A really good red blend from Priorat DOCa

Sometimes, you just have to run away

No, I'm not entirely done with unpacking yet but life has to go on… 



Today, I’m going to talk about another Spanish wine that we repeatedly enjoyed with my in laws. It is called Mas d'en Compte 2009 (c.21 Euros) and hails from Priorat DOCa (Denominacion de Origen Calificada). 

Priorat (Priorato in Spanish and Priory in English) is a region in Catalonia, located in the north east of Spain (you can see a map of the wine regions in Spain here). Wine production started in the 12^th century by the monks and similar to the situation in France, became disrupted in the 19^th century when insects native to North American (phylloxera) travelled across the Atlantic and killed most of the grape vines. Widespread replanting started in 1950 and took off in the late 1970s/ 1980s and today, the region sits along Rioja and Ribera Del Duero as being a top quality wine appellation (reflected by its DOCa status which is the highest wine classification in Spain).  

Mountains surround Priorat and its ground is rocky: a mixture of black and red slates and quartz also known locally as “llicorella” (I found this write up useful when trying to imagine llicorella). The presence of the llicorella schist is an important factor for this region because it allows the vine to penetrate deep below the surface and retains water during the dry summer. Grenache and carignan/cariñena are the typical grapes planted in this region, usually blended with small quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

The bottles of Mas d'en Compte 2009 we tried really opened up after an hour and provided a complex flavour of black fruits, jam, oak and minerals. Deep ruby in colour, it was full bodied, high in tannin and provided a sweet long finish. The wine had been aged in French and American barrels for 14 months - a blend of grenache (50%), cariñena (45%) and cabernet sauvignon (5%) - of which, the cariñena were derived from a 60 year old vineyard.

2009 bottles (rated 96 Parker points) seem to be sold out everywhere we looked online. However, the 2011s are still available. We have not yet tried them but note that Parker had given it 93 points, suggesting yet another bottle with very good "Euro-Parker points ratio" (to use Emilio Rubio's term). The bodega Celler Cal Pla (website in Catalan only) was founded 200 years ago and has undergone 7 generations of grape growers.

Agreeing to disagree - A Spanish red wine from Bierzo DO

Emilio had pointed to a car which he later told me was a Maserati

It's not often that Emilio and I disagree: On wine that is. For the most part, I tend to like the wines that Emilio favours. He takes it as given thus that I will be delighted with the wine he is extremely partial to and bombards me with lots of 'QUE DICES?!' when I disagree and proclaim something as 'ordinary'. On certain days, this is accompanied with some Spanish expletives. As was the case last Valentine's Day. I really wanted to tell him that I found the wine fantastisch but…

The controversial wine in question was a Paixar 2009 (32 Euros) that incidentally received 92 Parker points. Emilio found it ‘deliciously spicy, nicely tannin with a round body and a long finish’. Also a ‘sophisticated nose and may even be a very good fit to the often difficult to pair Asian food’. I only remember it as providing a nice medium length finish. The wine, made from Mencia grapes in Bierzo DO, had been left to age in oak barrels for 16 months.

Obscure Mencia from remote Bierzo: Bierzo DO is a rustic area in the northwest of Spain, in the corner of Castilla y Leon that is near to Galicia. As for the grape, I didn't come across a lot of remarkable factoids except that firstly, it is native to Iberia (its Portuguese alias is “Jaen”) and secondly, it was only in 2003 that the varietal was determined to be unrelated to the well-travelled Cabernet Franc. It has received a few glowing reviews ("hidden gems" and "quality, potential-laden" for instance). Snooth lists it as typically tasting of 'red and dark berry fruit, occasionally vegetal, can be savory with good acidity and tannin'. Elsewhere on the web, it is also portrayed as having spicy and mineral like features. 

Paixar, the winery: I've also not had much luck in finding a dedicated home page but from here, I see that it started of as a dream which was materialised by four thirty-somethings after discovering small blocks of 80 year old, low yielding vineyards in a tiny village (with only 60 inhabitants) high up in the mountains. The four are Gregory Perez, Alejandro Luna, Eduardo and Alberto Garcia. Stop Press: A stunning discovery! The latter two are sons of the Spanish super star wine maker Mariano Garcia who was/is responsible for creating great tasting Spanish wines like Alion, Aalto, Mauro etc. Alejandro Luna meanwhile owns another Bierzo winery. (Emilio, maybe I need to taste this wine again?)