2012 - L'Ermita, Alvaro Palacios, Priorat

Last time I tasted with him, Álvaro Palacios was talking about the 2012 L'Ermita as though it was the best wine in his 24 years in Priorat. It was also the latest to be harvested and had the lowest yields ever, so the expectation about the wine was really high. The wine has been in bottle since mid-April 2014. Produced with the blend found in this north-facing amphitheater, 92% Garnacha, 7% Cariñena and the remaining 1% of white grapes. The people who harvest pick the grapes off the stems one by one and discard whatever is not perfect. The wine is all finesse and subtlety with notes of flowers, red fruit and minerals in great balance. The palate is elastic, meaning it fills all the corners and is both powerful and elegant, plus rough and delicate. Simply a great wine. All that Palacios said was true, until the 2013 vintage arrived. Only 1,670 bottles were produced in 2012, the driest vintage to date in Priorat.

(made from roughly 95% garnacha and 5% carinena and some random old vine varieties scattered throughout the vineyard): Opaque purple. Deeply pitched black and blue fruit aromas are complicated by notes of violet, smoky minerals, incense and licorice. Broad, fleshy and concentrated, offering palate-coating blackcurrant and bitter cherry flavors that are underscored by notes of Indian spices and minerals. Rich and full but improbably lithe, finishing with superb clarity and power and supple tannins that sneak in late. This won't let go.