Alvaro Palacios "L'Ermita" Priorat 2016
(Bierzo, Spain) - [WA 97-100] [JS 97] [DM 96]
Regular price $1,500.00 Sale price $1,150.97 Save $349.03
About the Winery:
If anyone embodies the promise and spirit of "The New Spain", it is Alvaro Palacios. Born into a wine family in Rioja, he now makes wine in three different appellations: Priorat, Bierzo, and his hometown of Alfaro in Eastern Rioja. Alvaro's flagship Priorat wine, L'Ermita, is one of the highest rated wines to come out of Spain, and he was voted "Winemaker of the Year" in the 2008 edition of the Wine Report.
The region of Bierzo, like Priorat, has all the ingredients that add up to terrific wine: incredibly steep hillside vineyards; distinctive terroirs; and, most importantly, ancient vineyards of Mencia, a unique red grape believed to have been brought by French pilgrims during the Middle Ages.
L’Ermita carries the “gran vinya classificada,” the top of the official vineyard classification in Priorat, and comes from 1.45 hectares planted in 1939 with Garnacha, Cariñena and white grapes.Ratings & Reviews
97-100 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:
"As I saw in some of the other wines, there is a lot more Cariñena in the still unbottled 2016 L'Ermita than in the 2015. The varietal breakdown was approximately 85% Garnacha, 14% Cariñena and 1% white grapes—Garnacha Blanca, Macabeo and PX. The grapes are manually sorted and destemmed by the team that picks them and are put to ferment in an oak vat with the natural yeasts from the grapes. Malolactic was in barrique, which is where the wine was maturing when I tasted it. It has electric acidity that makes it vibrant, even if the nose might be a bit shy. I don't remember a vintage of L'Ermita with this concentration and acidity. We have to see how the élevage rounds it out, but this could be a very important vintage for L'Ermita. The expectation is to bottle some 2,000 bottles of this in May/June 2018." - Luis Gutierrez (Apr 2018)
97 Points - James Suckling:
"The youthful, blue-fruit and violet nose wraps itself around you like a vine shoot with its tendrils. Enormously concentrated with stunning integration of fruit and very fine-grained tannins that extend through the very long, silky finish. Drink or hold. The aging potential of this is measured in decades." (Jun 2018)
96 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"A wine that carries a great reputation on its shoulders, L'Ermita was the cornerstone of Priorat’s revival, and part of the rebuilding of Spain’s confidence in its own exceptional wines. From just 1.4ha of steep vineyards of llicorella (schist), a cool site which is always the last to be harvested (28th October in 2016, as in 2015). Linger on L’Ermita’s perfume, seductive with violets and red roses, superbly refined. A burst of youthful cherry fruit greets the palate, followed through by the vivid line of acidity. The finish is very long, with memorably fine savoury tannins. Needs time." - Sarah Jane Evans MW (Mar 2017)
If anyone embodies the promise and spirit of "The New Spain", it is Alvaro Palacios. Born into a wine family in Rioja, he now makes wine in three different appellations: Priorat, Bierzo, and his hometown of Alfaro in Eastern Rioja. Alvaro's flagship Priorat wine, L'Ermita, is one of the highest rated wines to come out of Spain, and he was voted "Winemaker of the Year" in the 2008 edition of the Wine Report.
The region of Bierzo, like Priorat, has all the ingredients that add up to terrific wine: incredibly steep hillside vineyards; distinctive terroirs; and, most importantly, ancient vineyards of Mencia, a unique red grape believed to have been brought by French pilgrims during the Middle Ages.
L’Ermita carries the “gran vinya classificada,” the top of the official vineyard classification in Priorat, and comes from 1.45 hectares planted in 1939 with Garnacha, Cariñena and white grapes.
Ratings & Reviews
97-100 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:"As I saw in some of the other wines, there is a lot more Cariñena in the still unbottled 2016 L'Ermita than in the 2015. The varietal breakdown was approximately 85% Garnacha, 14% Cariñena and 1% white grapes—Garnacha Blanca, Macabeo and PX. The grapes are manually sorted and destemmed by the team that picks them and are put to ferment in an oak vat with the natural yeasts from the grapes. Malolactic was in barrique, which is where the wine was maturing when I tasted it. It has electric acidity that makes it vibrant, even if the nose might be a bit shy. I don't remember a vintage of L'Ermita with this concentration and acidity. We have to see how the élevage rounds it out, but this could be a very important vintage for L'Ermita. The expectation is to bottle some 2,000 bottles of this in May/June 2018." - Luis Gutierrez (Apr 2018)
97 Points - James Suckling:
"The youthful, blue-fruit and violet nose wraps itself around you like a vine shoot with its tendrils. Enormously concentrated with stunning integration of fruit and very fine-grained tannins that extend through the very long, silky finish. Drink or hold. The aging potential of this is measured in decades." (Jun 2018)
96 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"A wine that carries a great reputation on its shoulders, L'Ermita was the cornerstone of Priorat’s revival, and part of the rebuilding of Spain’s confidence in its own exceptional wines. From just 1.4ha of steep vineyards of llicorella (schist), a cool site which is always the last to be harvested (28th October in 2016, as in 2015). Linger on L’Ermita’s perfume, seductive with violets and red roses, superbly refined. A burst of youthful cherry fruit greets the palate, followed through by the vivid line of acidity. The finish is very long, with memorably fine savoury tannins. Needs time." - Sarah Jane Evans MW (Mar 2017)