2003 Mas Doix Costers de Vinyes Velles Priorat

Mas Doix is an estate in the Priorat region of Northeastern Spain. Though Mas Doix was created by the Doix and Llagostera families in 1998, its roots go back to the mid-19th century, when Juan Doix was making wines that won gold awards at wine competitions in Barcelona. Many of the vines on the 45-acre estate are 100 years old. Grapes grown are Carinena, Garnacha, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The signature Doix red is typically 48% Garnacha, 50% Carinena and 2% Merlot. Wine Advocate regularly rates these wines highly, and described a recent vintage of Doix as “flamboyant and opulent, the wine has remarkable richness and depth of flavor leading to a 60-second finish.”

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.