Roureda Llicorella Gran Seleccio Priorat Catalonia 2016 (750ml)

 

Rated 91 Points by Vinous Media

 

Youthful magenta.  Powerful dark berry, licorice, potpourri and woodsmoke qualities on the nose, along with suggestions of black cardamom and cracked pepper.  Sweet, spicy and focused on the palate, offering intense blueberry, cherry liqueur, cola and spicecake flavors that are firmed and lifted by a smoky mineral quality.  The very long, focused finish clings with strong tenacity, a touch of florality and youthful, firm tannins.  Josh Raynolds

 

Roureda Licorella Gran Seleccio

 

Priorat Catalonia 2016

 

Producer:  Cellers Unio

 

Country:  Spain

 

Region:  Catalunya

 

Appellation:  Priorat

 

Llicorella Vitis 60 is pure art.  We couldn’t have done it anywhere else but in Priorat, blending grapes from our low-production 60 year old vines.  It’s up to you to uncork a bottle and let yourself be enraptured by magical sensations.  You’ll feel in heaven.

 

Tiny and entirely composed of craggy, jagged and deeply terraced vineyards, Priorat is a Catalan wine-producing region that was virtually abandoned until the early 1990s.  Its renaissance came with the arrival of one man, René Barbier, who recognized the region’s forgotten potential.  He banded with five friends to create five “Clos” in the village of Gratallops.  Their aim was to revive some of Priorat’s ancient Carignan vines, as well as plant new - mainly French - varieties.  These winemakers were technically skilled, well-trained and locally inspired; not surprisingly their results were a far cry from the few rustic and overly fermented wines already produced.

 

This movement escalated Priorat’s popularity for a few reasons.  Its new wines were modern and made with well-recognized varieties, namely old Carignan and Grenache blended with Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  When the demand arrived, scarcity commanded higher prices and as the region discovered its new acclaim, investors came running from near and far.  Within ten years, the area under vine practically doubled.

 

Priorat’s steep slopes of licorella (brown and black slate) and quartzite soils, protection from the cold winds of the Siera de Monstant and a lack of water, leading to incredibly low vine yields, all work together to make the region’s wines unique.  While similar blends could and are produced elsewhere, the mineral essence and unprecedented concentration of a Priorat wine is unmistakable.

 

Tasting Notes

 

A dark cherry red wine, with violet reflections and an aroma of ripe black fruits.  Has a series of mineral notes and a powerful, full-bodied taste of ripe, unctuous tannins.  A long, elegant after-taste, well balanced and with good aging notes.

 

Food Matches

 

Goes well with red meats, game, roast lamb, pork or beef and cured and blue cheese.

 

Vineyard

 

A rugged region with sharp relief, in which the grapes are grown on terraces and on the mountain sides or “costers”.  The earth is the distinctive element of this region, and is stony and poor with a volcanic constitution, formed by thin layers of slate or “llicorella”, that retain little water, giving the wines produced in this region a marked mineral character.  The Mediterranean climate is extremely dry, with sharp contrasts in the temperatures during the day and at night.

 

Appellation

 

Priorat DOQ Wines

 

1 of only 2 Spanish DOQ.  Today the Qualified Designation of Origin Priorat is one of the world’s most prestigious wine-producing regions.  It is unique.  It is sublime.  It is pure magic.  DOQ Priorat is located in the centre of Catalonia, in an unpopulated and inhospitable area.

The vines grow in poor, rocky soils.  They are planted on mountain slopes, in terraces at an altitude of between 100 and 700 meters above sea level.  Most of the land in Priorat is composed of silica slate, known by the locals as “llicorella”, and it is the llicorella that gives Priorat wines their unique character.  Average production per vine is often less than 1 kg, and this confers excellent properties upon the grapes, which become pure gold in the hands of a good winemaker.

 

 

Cellers Unio

 

Our soul lives in the cellars of each of our cooperatives.  For generations our people have given their best to make Unió become a reference in winemaking.

 

     Unió at a glance

 

     · 1 Qualified Denomination of Origin (DOQ)

     · 5 Denominations of Origin (DO)

     · 4.400 Ha

     · 186 Associate Cooperatives

     · 20.000 Families of Growers

     · 20 Associate Cooperatives with wine cellar

     · 6 Own Cellars

 

Our Land Our People

 

We are strongly committed to our land and our people, and this commitment has driven Cellers Unió’s activity for more than 70 years.  We believe that the best way of showing this commitment is crafting excellent wines, which serve as a tribute to our farmers’ work and, at the same time, guarantee our environment’s sustainability.  This way we’ll keep alive the spirit of all those generations who have dedicated their life to agriculture.

 

To achieve this goal we promote sustainable agriculture and invest in our cellars and facilities to upgrade their equipment.  At the same time we pay attention to whatever our associate cooperatives might need, including technical service, training, IT, legal advice, estate management and supplies.

 

Mission

 

We are strongly committed to our land and our environment, working closely with our associate cooperatives.  This enables us to offer high quality products which fully satisfy our customers and value agricultural production to reach its sustainability.