Alvaro Palacios Les Terrasses 2021

Enticingly fresh and nicely fruity nose with racy dark strawberries, cherries, slate, white pepper and spiced blueberries. Juicy, ripe and vibrant with fine, mealy tannins on the medium-bodied palate. Very harmonious and expressive. Delicious now, but will hold.

Defined by creamy tannins, this harmonious medium- to full-bodied red offers an expressive range of roasted plum, black raspberry and fig cake notes. Lively on the palate, with aromatic accents of mountain herbs, licorice, white pepper and vanilla lingering on the chewy finish.

The regional 2019 Les Terrasses Velles Vinyes was produced with a blend of grapes from 80 plots in eight villages from Priorat, 82% Garnacha with 17% Cariñena and 1% white grapes, a year unusually high in Garnacha and unusually low in Cariñena that suffered a lot from the heat. The destemmed and lightly crushed grapes fermented in concrete and oak vats with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in French oak barrels for 12 months. What happened here is that Cariñena was burned by a heat spike of 43 degrees Celsius on the 28th of June, and there was a wildfire in Montsant that perhaps could have warmed things up even more. I think there might be a change toward more Garnacha and elegance in the wines from Álvaro Palacios in Priorat, as this is brighter and less rustic than this wine used to be, more polished, perfumed and fine. The year of heat and drought.

A grippy style with a floral, dusty nose, grippy tannins and pronounced coffee and cocoa flavours. One for food (and your busy decanter). Blend: 82% Garnacha, 17% Cariñena, 1% Garnacha Blanca.