Clos i Terrasses Laurel Priorat 2021

Add 6 bottles to the cart and receive an additional 38% off!

Clos Erasmus may be the flagship – but it also DEMANDS aging like few wines made today. So while I sit on those until my deathbed – these incredible 96-point “Laurel” blends from their younger vines are exceptional! At our price?!?! Go get ‘em!

Clos Erasmus is one of the founding estates of modern-day Priorat. This ancient but forgotten wine region roared to life in the late 1980s with a singular wine – labeled by five different estates, including Erasmus. Now, 35 years later, the wines produced here rival the best anywhere. This cuvee, dubbed “Laurel” is a fantastic Catalan expression of the younger vines of the Erasmus estate – aged anywhere between five and forty years old. 96 POINTS is pretty exceptional for any “super-second” on any estate in the world – hinting at the unimaginable pedigree that Clos Erasmus has to offer.

Based on 80% of the “younger” grenache vines on the estate, this wine also blends in some 11% syrah and 9% cabernet sauvignon into the final mix. While the estate’s flagship wine is grippy and overpowering in its youth (suitable for aging as one would a first-growth Bordeaux), this offering showcases a much more soft and sensual approachability – with floral notes of hibiscus, lilacs, and violets, leading into a myriad of spicy red currants, blueberries, orange peel, and smoked meats. A crunchy, vibrant minerality brings about sensations of crumbled granite and slate, with hints of new oak influence adding weight and polish to the intensity of the fruit. This is an unmistakably fresh and lively sip, with loads of immediate and visceral pleasure just screaming to be released into your glass.

Aged for 18 months in a combination of wood and concrete vats, plus once and twice-used barrels, with a dollop of ceramic amphorae for good measure – each vessel imparts its own stamp on the wine that is unified and integrated through the terrier orchestrating presence of Gratallops’ warm, rich soils. 96 points from Wine Advocate is the highest score to date on this remarkably consistent over-achiever – and they just hit it for the third time in just four years. At our price – over 40% off the retail – this is an absolute must-have, especially when you snag 6 or more and drop that price even further still! Put this next to your favorite Top Growth Bordeaux or favorite Châteauneuf-du-Pape producers and we guarantee you’ll be blown away by the quality and value here! Load up, good people!

PAIRING IDEAS: A ways back, I ate at this little cafe in Avignon, where I was served roasted quail, across a puree of Jerusalem artichokes, with roasted beets and carrots, all with a lovely cocoa nib and red wine sauce. I’m craving it already and it would be awesome with this wine.