2014 Terra Sanctus Clos la Rae Priorat Spain 750 ml

We first tasted the inky, dark-fruited 2014 Terra Sanctus Priorat in the Catalan village of Porrera, at a hole-in-the-wall called Restaurant La Cooperativa. It had pastel walls, low ceilings, mismatched tablecloths, and a to-die-for braised lamb shoulder—sublime with the old-vine blend the gregarious proprietor had poured into our glasses. Perfect dish, perfect wine, perfect night.
 
Trust us, if we could have brought back the whole scene, we would have. But we’ve come home with the next best thing: An an old-vine red whose supercharged concentration, nose of blackberry and cherry, and superb minerality racked up 91 points from Vinous—and we’ve got it at an under-$20 price that’s all but unheard of in the marquee Priorat region.
 
Terra Sanctus will thrill fans of the Southern Rhône, Rioja, old-vine blends of California, and rich Aussie Shiraz. It’s an intense blackberry color, showing black cherry on the nose with aromas of stone, white pepper, and herbs—a bouquet that is distinctly Priorat. Filled with ripe fruit, games notes, mineral, and spice, it’s got smooth tannins the slide into a nice, long finish that has softened with a few years in bottle.
 
While it can get complicated, some things about Spanish wine are exceedingly simple. The country has just two regions that qualify as DOCa, the highest classification in the land. The first, naturally, is world-famous Rioja. The second is Priorat. Confined to a tightly limited area west of Barcelona, Priorat is known for its steep slopes, arid weather, and high proportion of slate in the soil, known locally as llicorella. The grape varieties that are common to the South of France—Grenache, Syrah, Carignan—thrive here, in the quartz-flecked soils that imbue Priorat with its unmistakable minerality.
 
Terra Sanctus comes from near the village of Porrera, and is sourced from 50-year-old (on average) vines that grow on unterraced rows that cling to the hillside for dear life (and make those looking up wonder how it’s possible to harvest them!). These vines dig through the thin topsoil, deep into the rock in order to find nutrients, a stressful existence that leads to miniscule yields and off-the-charts concentration.
 
After 14-plus months in French oak and a few years in bottle, this old-vine red is simply singing. It’s intensely concentrated, beautifully integrated, and boasts every bit of the power and purity that define this sought-after region. Don’t count on seeing a Priorat priced like this again soon!