Clos Figueras Font de la Figuera Priorat 2019
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Robert
Parker
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Red wine ripe cherry color with bright violet rim denoting youth. Wild red fruit flavors and fine toasted oak. The entry is fresh, gourmand and elegant with the classic mineral touch of the Priorat. A long lingering finish rounds of the wine with freshness and elegance.
Blend: 50% Grenache, 30% Carignan, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The powerful and classical Priorat red 2019 Font de la Figuera is a blend of Garnacha, Cariñena and Syrah that fermented in stainless steel and some used oak barrels and matured in used 500-liter French oak barrels for 12 months. It's ripe at 15.5% alcohol, reflecting a warm and dry Priorat vintage, and it has power but also balance and freshness (pH is 3.4). It has notes of wet slate, graphite and earth, along with a toasted touch and fine, slightly dusty tannins. 10,961 bottles were filled in February 2021.Best after 2022.
René Barbier's team takes care of the vineyards as well as the vinification and ageing of the wines. Clos Figueres now ranks with the best of Priorat, while the second wine, Font de la Figuera, represents remarkable value for the region. Recently, they have also launched production of a unique and exciting white Priorat, based on rich Garnacha Blanca, with 10% Viognier to add lift and aromatic complexity.
Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. Somm Secret—The Italian island of Sardinia produces bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). California, Washington and Australia have achieved found success with Grenache, both flying solo and in blends.
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. This Spanish wine's 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.