2011 Finca Tobella Sellecio Especial Priorat 750 ml

Scorching Terrain Yields A Giant Value

With a scorching 95-point score and a $34.99 pricetag, the 2011 Finca Tobella Selleció Especial guarantees its place as one of the top Priorat buys of the year.  If you haven’t tried a Priorat, let this be your introduction to this world-famous wine region south of Barcelona. The landscape is made up of impossibly steep slate slopes that impart an unmistakable sense of place, with bold and heady texture and flavors of blackberries, anise, savory herbs and crushed rocks. “You can feel the influence of the llicorella soils, that austere minerality from the slate in this wine’s severe tannic structure,” writes Wine & Spirits, also noting “that sharp, vertical acidity, not only unveiling the fruit flavors, but also offering a refreshing finish.” This lusty, high-powered release from century-old vines rooted in Priorat’s coveted blue slate soils offers rich blackberry and plum fruit density with the age-worthiness of a giant. Read on to get a sense of the “boot-burning” landscape of Priorat, but first, take advantage of this Wine Access EXCLUSIVE, packed with all the opulence that Priorat is famed for. Shipping included on 4.

Finca Tobella winemaker John Lipscomb got a memorable introduction to just how intense Priorat could be in 2003, the year he and his wife Nuria Tobella purchased 10 acres of vineyards in Les Aubagues, right next to Gratallops.

He was dropping clusters from overloaded Grenache vines during that season’s heat wave, as temperatures were soaring above three digits. When he arrived at 11 a.m., it was already 107 degrees. An hour later, absorbed in his work, he experienced a burning sensation underneath his feet. Looking down, he discovered the rubber sole of his boots had melted and fallen right off! He dashed to the car—but not before sustaining first-degree burns on the soles of his feet.

That’s the kind of extreme you tend to encounter in this remote, intensely rural pocket of southern Spain. It’s a rugged patch of country that brings out the romantic and poetic in people. “There’s nothing consistent about the place, except perhaps its isolation and glorious mystery,” writes Decanter. “Even the dogs seem shy of barking. Perhaps they’re awed by the glitter of the stars.”

It was that singular personality of the region that Lipscomb and Tobella, who trained at UC Davis and cut their teeth in Napa and Sonoma, sought to capture with their winery. Raw, wild power meets steely structure and acidity—“wake-up wines,” as they’ve been called. In the ensuing years, Finca Tobella has expanded their reach to 50 acres in the heart of Priorat. Here, the sun broils the terraces, particularly in the hot 2011 vintage. Without a drop of summertime water, all farming is painstakingly done by hand.

The estate’s century-old Grenache and Carignan vines thrust their spidery roots deep through the flaky, signature gray-blue slate soils, seeking moisture and nutrients hidden in the substrata, in the process absorbing the terroir’s earthy intensity. Come harvest time, the ancient bushes offer up just a few superbly concentrated clusters per shoot. The berries are small, the yields minuscule. The wines—like this high-scoring value-buy, packed with deep, dark fruit and flinty minerality—speak for themselves.