WTN: 2002 Bellmunt del Priorat “GR-174” Priorat

[Jean Brislance]

2002 Bellmunt del Priorat “GR-174” Priorat - Opened this with some homemade pizza. A reddish-purple color. Nose is very ripe with plenty of bright cherry, and also some black pepper and dried herbs, rounded out with a pleasant dustiness. Flavors are juicy with more cherry, some plum, red berry, herbal, and licorice notes. The finish is somewhat on the quick side, and there is some noticeable heat as well. The flavors are nice, but the heat just lingers and is somewhat distracting. The wine is very forward and one-dimensional, without a lot of tannic structure. Eh…

Jean

[Jason Perlow]

I've also had a Priorat lately that had too much heat as far as I was concerned -- I had a 2002 Onix the other day that was 14 percent alcohol and while the flavors were ok, the excessive heat was as you say, too much of a distraction. Although I understand that with Priorats, the legal minimum is 13.5 percent and they can go up to 16 percent. So maybe I'm just not keen on the style of wine.

Of course, this was only a $12 wine, so maybe I am asking too much. Good Priorats are out of my price range. :)

[Jean Brislance]

Of course, this was only a $12 wine, so maybe I am asking too much. Good Priorats are out of my price range. :)

Jason, this wine was roughly in the same price range ($14, I think), so I didn't have tremendously high expectations. I have found that I generally like many of the value wines that Eric Solomon imports, so I thought I would give it a whirl!

On the other hand, I do have a '99 Alvaro Palacios Priorat "Les Terrasses" waiting in the wings that should be drinking well right now. I may have to open that one soon.

All the best,

Jean