Clos Mogador 2011 75cl

The 2011 Clos Mogador feels ripe, serious and young. Rene Barbier likes to pick ripe grapes but without any raisins making it into the vats. The wine is a blend of the different grapes in his Clos Mogador vineyard (it’s just one of a handful of wines officially awarded the single-vineyard label by the Catalan wine institutions): Garnacha, Carinena, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. But the wine speaks more of the place than the grapes, with notes of slate, thyme, rosemary, sage, lavender, black cherries and a supple palate, full-bodied, with pungent flavors, round, velvety tannins and a long aftertaste. This is a superb effort for such a warm vintage, the warmest and driest in Priorat since 2003, and great value for the quality. 30,000 bottles are produced of this prodigious, powerful but balanced Priorat. Drink 2015-2025. Clos Mogador and the Barbier family should require no introduction to any Priorat aficionado, as they are the pioneers and catalysts of modern day Priorat. To understand low yields (and high prices) it should be enough to say that from their 40 hectares of vineyards they produce 45,000 bottles of wine per year. The wines are not cheap, but for the quality they offer they represent good value and are all highly recommended.

Plush and supple on the palate, this ripe red offers plum, black cherry, kirsch, toast and licorice flavors, with well-integrated tannins and gentle acidity. Pretty but concentrated. Drink now through 2020. 2,000 cases made. –TM