2008 Terra de Verema Triumvirat

Terra de Verema is a boutique estate notable because of its winemaker, Esther Nin. Nin makes wine at Clos Erasmus and Nun, in Penedes, as well as at several other artisanal producers. A native of Penedes, Nin’s wines for various producers have earned scores in the mid-90s to 100 pts from Wine Advocate and others. At Terra de Verema she makes wines that are primarily Carinena. Grapes are sourced from vineyards in the village of Scala dei and El Lloar. Wine Advocate has written that wine from Terra de Verema “displays elevated acidity in an intellectual style for Priorat.”

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.