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2002 Joan Simo Priorat Les Eres Vinyes Velles

Not Currently In Auction

Latest Sale Price

April 23, 2023 - $36

Estimate

RATINGS

94Wine Spectator

...alluring red, refined yet powerful, subtle yet seductive. Bright blackberry, mineral, coffee and anise flavors are framed by ripe, muscular tannins, which yield to fruit and spice on the long finish. Balanced and polished.

91+ Stephen Tanzer

Cassis, maraschino cherry, licorice, violet and bitter chocolate on the nose. Juicy, high-pitched and very primary on the palate, with a brooding cassis flavor. At once penetrating and creamy in an old-viney way.

91Wine Enthusiast

On the nose, there's a lot of barrique. The palate is snappy, almost acidic, and thus the flavors run toward pie cherry and raspberry.

REGION

Spain, Cataluna, Priorato

Priorat in southern Catalonia is one of Spain’s newer regions for quality wines. With only about 2,500 vineyard acres, it is not one of Spain’s larger appellations, and its rocky mountains and hillsides make for challenging vineyard management. But grapes have been grown here in the rich, volcanic soil since at least the Middle Ages, when Carthusian monks planted vineyards. Bulk wines were the main focus here until the late 1970s, when pioneering Spanish winemakers Alvaro Palacios and René Barbier replanted vineyards and vastly improved winemaking in the region. Clos Mogador, Clos Erasmus and Finca Dofi were some of the now much-admired wineries started in the later decades of the 20th century. By the 1990s many innovative, quality-focused wineries were started in Priorat, making it one of the hottest winemaking regions in Spain. Priorat was made a DO in 1954 but upgraded to the prestigious Demoninación de Origen Calificada, or DOCa, in 2000. (In Catalan, the regional language, the appellation abbreviation is DOQ.) Full-flavored, full-bodied wines with relatively high alcohol content are characteristic of Priorat, with Garnacha (Grenache) and Carinena (Carignan) being the traditional grapes.