2014 Ferrer Bobet Priorat Vinyes Velles 750 ml

100-Year-Old Vines Where Priorat Meets The Sky

The question of exactly how much one is willing to risk for great wine came to mind on our recent trip to Priorat, as we braced ourselves against the dashboard of a truck whipping around curvy roads high on the slopes of Porrera. Out the window, vineyards dropped away precipitously below—some of the steepest, most gulp-inducing climes we’ve seen on the wine trail. The driver, a local vineyard manager, seemed oblivious to our concern, his foot never lifting off the acceleration pedal as he chattered away amiably about Spain’s 2014 vintage.

The reward for our vertiginous ascent—today’s allocation of 2014 Ferrer Bobet Vinyes Velles—was, it turns out, absolutely worth the sweaty palms and dry mouth. The 2014 release is a sumptuous, darkly thrilling Priorat that will drive fans of decadent red blends crazy.

Few places broadcast the sensory character of wine like Priorat. A sniff of the air in Ferrer Bobet’s high-elevation vineyards and you pick up the wild herbs, fennel, and baked earth that rise out of the glass. The llicorella slate soils that crunched beneath our boots during the trip reveals itself in the earthy mineral depth of the Vinyes Velles. The baking sun that left our forearms reddened also leaves its mark on the gnarled 100-year-old Carignane and Grenache vines here, yielding voluptuous concentration in the grapes.

“The 2014 Vinyes Velles is a beautiful wine, and certainly up with the crème de la crème in the vintage,” writes Jeb Dunnuck in a rave 96-point review, which praised it as “full-bodied, incredibly pure” and “an awesome expression of Carinyana to enjoy over the coming decade.”

From the region known for producing the Super Tuscans of Spain, Ferrer Bobet has quickly distinguished itself as one of the elite, thanks to a strict regimen of organic viticulture and high-altitude growing conditions that eke every last drop of concentration out of the century-old vines. Bold, powerful, laced with baked black fruits, thyme, and anise, this bottle—along with the vertigo we endured to secure it—was among the most memorable highlights of our Priorat trip.

Ferrer Bobet, founded in 2002 by Sergi Ferrer-Salat and Raül Bobet, has rocketed to the top of the Who’s Who list in Spain, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with giants like Scala Dei and Mas Doix. Painstaking measures are taken in the vineyard, where strict organic viticulture rules the day, no insecticides or pesticides allowed. Just 37 of the estate’s total 172 acres are planted, allowing biodiversity to flourish and creating an ecosystem that invests the vines with natural vivacity and purity. Grapes are hand-picked and sorted berry by berry; aging occurs in French oak barrels for 18 months, endowing the rich dark fruit profile with toasted spice and satiny texture.

For Spanish collectors and lovers of decadent reds—drink this blockbuster now for its ripe concentration or put it down for up to a decade as it matures into a brooding colossus.