Priorat has become something of a darling of the wine community, and even today still remains an insider's wine for the most part, with the community at large still having never heard of it. Yet at the same time, the Catalan region just west of Barcelona (lying in eastern Spain, closer towards its border with France) holds the highest geographical designation (of DOQ) of any wine producing region of Spain, which it shares only with the well-known Rioja (which is awarded a DOC, equivalent to that of the DOQ).

A region that should and will be on your wine bingo card.

Priorat Is A Diamond In The Rough That You Should And Will Know About

The region produces strikingly perfumed and intense wines, or as Valenti Ilagostera of Mas Doix calls it "These are wake-up wines, not sofa wines." Up till the 90's, the region was largely isolated as a result of its mountainous and rugged terrain, that was until winemakers began to return to their family vineyards in Priorat and through their decades of work, have seriously raised the profile of the region. What set the region apart - beyond its traditional varietals of Cariñena and Garnacha, which thrive in the region's extreme conditions - is its Ilicorella slate soils which gives its wines minerality, something that was understood by the early Carthusian monks of the Scala Dei Monastery who introduced grape vine growing to the area in the 12th Century. Yet despite Priorat's rising fame, output from the region remains small given the limiting terrain which keeps vineyards small and challenging for farming.

Today we'll be trying one of Priorat's biggest stars - Mas Doix.

Valenti and Ramon Llagostera.

A Brief Introduction To Mas Doix

Mas Doix finds itself in the village of Paboleda, fairly near central Priorat, where a river runs along the village, and is actually the highest and coolest village of Priorat. The Doix family has been farming in the area as early as 1850, and the family's wines would even win major awards at the grand 1878 Paris World Exhibition and the 1888 Barcelona World Exhibition - that all changed when phylloxera swept across Europe, and Priorat was no exception to the blight. It took decades for the family's vineyards to recover, and the family would eventually remain as growers, selling their fruit to local cooperatives in the century that followed. In the years following phylloxera, the family would choose to focus on traditional local varieties Cariñena and Garnacha, and it is because of the family's long history in the area that the Mas Doix winery today continues to hold access to vines up to a century old - most of its wines come from vines that are at least 40 years old, planted on the same Ilicorella slate soils!

Unenviable terrains that produce some intensely flavour rich wines.

And thus up until 1998 that the Mas Doix winery as we know it today emerged, with wines under its own name. This was the result of two brothers, Valenti and Ramon Llagostera, who had returned from Barcelona to their childhood home of Poboleda and had realised that there was much potential for something special to be created. Their ties to the Doix family stems from their father's aunt, who had married the first generation Doix who had settled in area. And thus in their childhood, they would accompany their father when he would periodically return to Poboleda. And thus the Llagostera brothers would help to vinify the first Mas Doix wines - inaugurated by the 1999 Doix. 

Mas Doix Brings Revival To Spain's Insider's Wine Region

Together they would farm some 20 hectares of vineyards organically, and even incorporating some biodynamic practices. Their vineyards hold great treasures in the form of incredibly old vines, for example Carignan vines planted in 1902 and 80 year old Garnacha. The winery eschews the international varietals that have become popular with Priorat producers, with just a small parcel of no more than 10% of Syrah vines. Their varieties include Cariñena, Garnacha, Carignan, Macabeo, Garnacha Blanca, Pedro Ximenez and Syrah.

The Mas Doix winery.

Whilst the winery emphasises that all the work to be done is in the vineyards, they also engage in rigorous sorting to ensure only the best fruit is kept, and after which the fruit undergoes a vinification process that has been continuously tweaked over the years to enhance the wine's ability to reflect its terroir. Initially the winery started out using a good deal of new oak, which it has since steadily reduced, and have also cut down the duration of ageing in wood. The winery also now employs a range of ageing vessels from cement eggs to large sized foudres to again emphasise the wine's natural character, holding off against the influence of the oak. Finally, each of Mas Doix's wines are made with varying proportions of a blend of Cariñena and Garnacha from different vine ages.

As the winery moves into the future, it has received investment from Cliff Lede (of Cliff Lede Vineyards and Fel Wines in Napa Valley) which has allowed the winery to seriously upgrade their facilities. The winery has also placed more focus on creating single varietal blends which showcase with full purity local varieties on the world stage.

Today we're going to try two wines from Mas Doix - the Salanques and the Doix!

Let's go!

Wine Review: Salanques 2019, Mas Doix

First up! The Salanques is made from 65% Grenache (40-80 year old vines!), 25% Carignan (80 year old vines!!) and 10% Syrah (15 year old vines). Fermentation is done with destemmed fruit in stainless steel tanks and wooden barrels. It's then aged for 14 months in new fine-grained French oak barrels (50% new, 50% two year old barrels).

Tasting Notes

Colour: Dark Ruby

Aroma: It leads with dark fruit and spice, rather sensual with blackcurrants, tobacco, cloves and cardamom. Some nibs of dark chocolate and licorice too. It gradually lifts and lightens alittle to give dark cherry preserves and stewed plums, before making way for more rosy red tones of raspberries and roses. Great aromatic intensity of the florals here! 

Taste: It's juicier and more concentrated and rich on the palate. More on blackcurrants, dark cherries, plums, with some light dusting of cacao. The tannins are firm and tighten alittle here, with some berry skins coming through rather taut. With time some leather, eucalyptus and herbal cough syrup comes through too.

Finish: The richness persists, with the fruit skins building up more so, giving more of a dryness here with more of those firm and tighter tannins. There's more of a spiced quality here too with more cloves, black pepper and tobacco. The mix of blackcurrants and raspberries carry through the finish.  

My Thoughts

Truly a showpiece of a red Priorat! It has such length, such intensity and complexity as it unfolds along the way! It feels like you're watching an orchestra go through a full symphony really. It leans darker yet keeps this sort of rosy quality about it, largely filled in with dark fruit, spiced and also floral. It's so perfumed on the nose, with such vibrance and radiance. It gets juicier and riper on the palate, yet here it seems to turn inward, with a greater focus on its concentration. The tannins are at this point showing themselves already - firm and quite taut. There's also a somewhat herbal aspect to the body. As it carries into the finish, the tannins continue to build yet thankfully they don't overwhelm, simply remaining quite steely and ever present, like a dam holding back the richness. This was simply excellent - it slaps so far above its price point, and truly delivers an absolute performance! 

Wine Review: Doix 2017, Mas Doix

Next up! The Doix! This one comes from 45% Grenache (80 year old vines!) and 55% Carignan (100 year old vines!!). Fruit is destemmed, fermented in stainless steel tanks and finished in wood. It's aged for 16 months in new barrels of French oak.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: An outpouring of intensely aromatic potpourri, of roses, tobacco leaves, cigar boxes, cedar, and some tones of vanilla. It's backed up by deep inky notes of dark cherries and plums, incredibly vibrant and ripe. It's enveloped in a sort of dustiness of pulverised slate, giving a minerality to it. It's evocative and yet elegant, like a dessert rose almost. There's also a pronounced herbal quality of eucalyptus.

Taste: Remarkably energetic, it's taut and firm with a velvety satin-like texture. More on stewed plums and blackberry preserves, with some dark cherries bring with it some streaky acidity. More on tobacco, leather and black licorice too. It has a prominent mineral backbone that gives it an upright structure, also really well balanced. The tannins whilst grainy, are matted and fine, without any sense of being overwhelming.

Finish: The finish is cleaner this time, a short pucker of the fruit skins, some quick hits of blackberry fruit leather, and as it recedes, more florals are revealed with vibrant bouquets of violet flowers. Gentle spiced notes of tobacco and cloves.

My Thoughts

If the Salanques was a performance, the Doix must be the crescendo! This takes that core DNA of the Salanques and amps up the energy and cadence; this is even more perfumed and radiant on the nose, and on the body it trades up length for conciseness. It's punchy and delivers like a showstopper! It's at once exciting and keeps you thoroughly engaged and leaning in. This is a quicker paced, more thrilling and exhilarating! But beyond all these qualitative descriptors, what is perhaps most understated here is truly how it reflects the terroir with the pure expression of that mineral backbone of its body - it feels like a spine of chalky ridges up along the high altitude mountains! It's quite the spectacular experience. The finish here keeps up with that quicker pace, this time finishing cleaner, and again a more condensed yet energetic expression of what we saw with the Salanques, ending with fields of violets that are thoroughly evocative.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot