Terroir Al Limit Arbossar 2018
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Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Arbossar is a steep, north-facing vineyard near Torroja where Dominik farms 90-year-old Carinyena on schist and granite soils. He discovered this site while riding his motorbike around the village. Despite the conventional wisdom against northern exposure and Carinyena when power and extraction were preferred in the Priorat, he could sense that this was a unique site and the perfect complement to the nearby and south-facing Dits del Terra.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Arbossar follows the path of the 2017 and matured exclusively in concrete, as they are abandoning oak for the élevage of all their wines. 2018 was a late-ripening vintage, cooler than 2017. The wine is very young and fresh, a lot less developed than the 2017, and it has a mixture of red and black fruit, aromatic herbs and flowers. The palate is medium-bodied with very nice balance and fine tannins, coming through as juicy but austere at the same time. This is a cooler expression of Cariñena in a cooler year. This is from a very old vineyard that delivers very low yields, and the challenge is to achieve this harmony and elegance. They bought this vineyard in 2005.
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James Suckling
Ripe and generous fruit here with dark-berry and ripe blood-orange character. Medium to full body with firm tannins that are polished. Bright acidity. Fine-textured finish.
Other Vintages
2019-
Suckling
James -
Spirits
Wine &
Responsible for some of the most stunning old vine red wine on the planet, Carignan has an amazing capacity to survive dry, arid climates and still produce lovely, mouthwatering wine. In Spain it goes by the name of Mazuelo or Cariñena and while it may have originated there in the province of Aragón, its popularity lies elsewhere, particularly in Languedoc-Roussillon. Somm Secret—Historically Carignan did not enjoy the respect that it does today. In the mid 20th century, Carignan covered nearly 140,000 ha in Algeria, where it was made into low quality bulk and blending wine to supply mass-market demand.
Tiny and entirely composed of craggy, jagged and deeply terraced vineyards, Priorat is a Catalan wine-producing region that was virtually abandoned until the early 1990s. This Spanish wine's renaissance came with the arrival of one man, René Barbier, who recognized the region’s forgotten potential. He banded with five friends to create five “Clos” in the village of Gratallops. Their aim was to revive some of Priorat’s ancient Carignan vines, as well as plant new—mainly French—varieties. These winemakers were technically skilled, well-trained and locally inspired; not surprisingly their results were a far cry from the few rustic and overly fermented wines already produced.
This movement escalated Priorat’s popularity for a few reasons. Its new wines were modern and made with well-recognized varieties, namely old Carignan and Grenache blended with Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. When the demand arrived, scarcity commanded higher prices and as the region discovered its new acclaim, investors came running from near and far. Within ten years, the area under vine practically doubled.
Priorat’s steep slopes of licorella (brown and black slate) and quartzite soils, protection from the cold winds of the Siera de Monstant and a lack of water, leading to incredibly low vine yields, all work together to make the region’s wines unique. While similar blends could and are produced elsewhere, the mineral essence and unprecedented concentration of a Priorat wine is unmistakable.