WTN: 1999 A. Palacios Les Terrasses

[Brad Ballinger]

1999 A. Palacios Les Terrasses, Priorat. This wine is 50% garnacha, 40% carinena, and 10% cabernet sauvignon. Upon release the wine was juicy and creamy. It also garnered a lot of high points from the critics. It has fleshed itself out now into what is becoming a beautiful wine, which is not bad considering this wine gets the grapes that aren't good enough for L'Ermita or Finca Dofi. The wine is meant for earlier drinking. At this point, there are some mature earthy and meaty notes on the nose, and more complexity in the flavor profile on the palate. Stronger presence of spice and leather. This wine hasn't been too terribly oaky, and it's considerably less noticeable at this stage than it was upon release. It's a little dusty on the finish. I'm glad I held onto it for this long as it showed me more layering and dimension than it did in its youth. I wouldn't hold it past another year or two though.