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Princeton

 

Red-full-modern

Bodegas Mas Alta La Basseta Priorat 2005$50.00

Labasseta
Color:
Red
Body/Type:
Full Bodied
Style:
Modern
Size:
Bottle, 750 ml
Winery:
Bodegas Mas Alta
Grapes:
Grenache / Garnacha and Carignan
Serve At:
59°-64° F
Region:
Spain > Priorat
AggressiveComplexCrispDryOverpricedRichSmoothSour

A delicious blend of garnacha, carignan and cabernet sauvignon. Classic Priorat with its smokey tones and big, expressive flavors, this wine is rich and full on the palate, yet surprisingly soft and quite feminine. The famous Michel Tardieu of Tardieu Laurent in the Rhone assisted in making this wine.

Based in the traditional village of Vilella Alta, BODEGAS MAS ALTA is the culmination of five Belgian partners' common desire to produce a great wine. This dream is now taking shape thanks to the advice of Michel Tardieu and Philippe Cambie, and as the result of the work done by a passionate team every day.

After slow maturation under the blazing sun, harvest time arrives. One word is on everyone's lips: RESPECT. Respect for the work of Nature, the work of generations of men and women who have toiled down the years to obtain this fruit.

Quality is always uppermost in their minds at every stage of the grape's processing. In fact, the equipment at Bodegas Mas Alta is designed to preserve the grape's intrinsic qualities as much as possible. Storage in cold rooms, a double sorting table, the concrete tanks are filled by gravity, temperature control, etc., – technology is used with respect for the fruit.

Vinification is gentle, with no extremes, the aim being to reveal the typical PRIORAT characteristics. Then comes the aging stage, which varies between 14 and 18 months. During this time the wine will be honed and refined, affirming its identity, in small French oak barrels.

From the Carthusian monks of Scala Dei in 1163, comes the hippest wine of Spain. Okay, so I skipped a few steps. Planted to vines by the monks, the region was tended by them until 1835 when they were distributed to small landholders in the territory. Devastated by the scourge of phylloxera in the late 1800’s the land lay most fallow for almost a hundred years until planting occurred again in the 1850’s. But the wines of Priorat were unremarkable…until a small group of revolutionary wine makers, let by Alvaro Palacios, saw potential in this scorched earth. They planted new vineyards, not with just garnacha, monastrell, carinena and other traditional grapes of the region, but also cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah. In 1993 Palacios produced a wine called L’Ermita that rocked the world’s view of this region. Bottles of L’Ermita routinely sell for $300 plus today. It is no doubt a premium wine region.

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anu sunku, anu says:

Thumbs-up-dark
  • Crisp
  • Dry

crisp dry great rich cool

Bg

poojab says:

Thumbs-down-dark
  • Aggressive

good

Mark

mcensits says:

Thumbs-up-dark
  • Complex
  • Rich
  • Smooth

Awesome. no other way to put it. I opened it on a Friday and it drank even better on Saturday. Great on its own or with a big rich dish.

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