2008 Vall Llach, 6-bottle Lot, Wood Case

Vall Llach was founded in the early 1990s in Porrera in southern Catalonia. It is in the Priorat appellation, or Designation of Origin. The founders were Lluis Llach, a professional singer, and notary Enric Costa. The estate grows Garnacha (Grenache), Carinena (Carignan), Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. The flagship wine is Vall Llach vi de Finca Mas de la Rosa. Most of the wines are blends and their names are usually in the Catalan language. For instance there is a Merlot, Syrah, Cab blend called Embruix, which means “bewitching” in Catalan.

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.