The superb 2006 Clos Fonta is a blend of 40% Garnacha Peluda, 20% Garnacha Pais, 30% Carinena and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from 40- to 100-year-old vines and raised in 20% new oak barrels and 1,500-litre foudres. It displays fine delineation on the nose with blackberry, wild hedgerow, crushed stone (slate and flint) and a touch of smoke. The palate is very well-balanced with lovely, naturally ripe blackberry and raspberry as well as superb minerality. It disguises the alcohol (15%) supremely well, in fact, to the degree that it felt more like 13.5 or 14%. This is a very well-crafted, atypically “classic” Priorat red that should age extremely well. Drink now-2025.
When proprietor Pere Rovira escorted us to a viewpoint to survey his unusually large 125-hectare estate located in Bellmunt de Priorat, just as dusk was falling, I could see little in the gloom. Still, it was nice to see the stars come out. Formerly known as Masia Baril until the Rovira family acquired it in 1998, the estate is home to 45 hectares of vine nestled amongst the olive groves and almond trees. Tasting back at the family house with his daughters Marta and Pilar, I found much to admire in their wines, which I felt were suffused with a sense of honesty and refreshing lack of pretension – wine to drink rather than stand back and admire. All vinifications from their multitude of parcels are completed separately and a blind tasting in December allocates “A,” “B” and “C” grades that are the basis from Clos Fonta (their flagship label predominantly old vines), Coma Vella (usually around 20% from old vines) and entry-level “Bellmunt” blends.
Importer: C & P Wines, New York, NY; tel. (917) 846-1708
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