Mas d'en Gil Coma Vella 2015
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Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
This wine works well with meat-based dishes: grilled lamb with Mediterranean herbs or grilled Iberian pork dishes, red meat such as Galician Rossa beef (Rossa Gallega). It also goes well with fatty fish such as grilled tuna or with rice and risotto dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The red blend 2015 Coma Vella is a blend of 70% Garnacha Peluda and Garnacha del País, 20% Cariñena and 10% Syrah from vines planted between 1965 and 1998 on classical sloped llicorella slate soils except the Syrah, which is on limestone soils. They used 10% to 20% full clusters for the fermentation in stainless steel and oak vats with indigenous yeasts. It matured for one year in a combination of 225-liter barrels and 1,500- and 3,000-liter oak vats with only 15% to 20% new oak. The wine shows contained ripeness, showcasing the style of the south of Priorat, and it's spicy and a little earthy. It has a medium to full-bodied palate and some dusty tannins without the finesse of the newest reds.
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James Suckling
A harmonious wine showing fresh and ripe red fruit plus hints of violets. Medium-to full-bodied with fine-grained tannins and a long and flavorful finish. Concentrated yet fresh and drinkable. Pretty center palate.
Other Vintages
2016-
Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
The Rovira family of Vilafranca del Penedés, with long experience in the Spanish wine trade, acquired Masía Barril in 1998 from Rafael Barril's widow Magdalena and proceeded to conserve and upgrade the vineyards and facilities, reapplying the original name. The estate is farmed organically and includes multiple crops and forest, with vineyards constituting just 30% of the surface area.
With hundreds of red grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended red wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged resulting in a wide variety of red wine styles. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a red wine blend variety that creates a fruity and full-bodied wine would do well combined with one that is naturally high in acidity and tannins. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
How to Serve Red Wine
A common piece of advice is to serve red wine at “room temperature,” but this suggestion is imprecise. After all, room temperature in January is likely to be quite different than in August, even considering the possible effect of central heating and air conditioning systems. The proper temperature to aim for is 55° F to 60° F for lighter-bodied reds and 60° F to 65° F for fuller-bodied wines.
How Long Does Red Wine Last?
Once opened and re-corked, a bottle stored in a cool, dark environment (like your fridge) will stay fresh and nicely drinkable for a day or two. There are products available that can extend that period by a couple of days. As for unopened bottles, optimal storage means keeping them on their sides in a moderately humid environment at about 57° F. Red wines stored in this manner will stay good – and possibly improve – for anywhere from one year to multiple decades. Assessing how long to hold on to a bottle is a complicated science. If you are planning long-term storage of your reds, seek the advice of a wine professional.
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.