2017 Ferrer Bobet Priorat 750 ml

We can’t get enough Ferrer Bobet. One of the elite producers of Priorat, they’ve become a member- favorite over the last three years, and remain our  our most-requested Spanish wine. Their characterful, classic, and powerful reds consistently over-deliver for their price— and the 2017 follows in the delicious footsteps of its predecessors.

In 2017 they captured the rugged boldness of the region with this gorgeously rich and full-bodied knockout. Scented with crushed rose petals and new leather, it’s got the inky concentration of old-vine Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but with what Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate called a “magical freshness.”

You’d expect dramatic wine to come from vineyards that our Master of Wine Vanessa Conlin, called “truly breathtaking, some of the steepest I have ever seen”—and tasting the ‘17 shows off that personality in the bottle. Dark and inky in the glass, the aromas are dramatic with black cherries and raspberries, wild thyme, and sun-scorched minerality. The palate is intense and features more dark fruit, herbs, and graphite undertones kept in check with a vibrancy that demands another glass… which meant we had to open a second bottle to go with our Moroccan-braised short ribs last month.

Founded in 2002 by Sergi Ferrer-Salat and Raül Bobet, Ferrer Bobet has rocketed to the top of the Who’s Who list in Spain, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with giants like Clos Erasmus and Mas Doix. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate has called it “the future showplace of Priorat.” The winery has distinguished itself through a strict regimen of organic viticulture and high-altitude growing conditions that eke every last drop of concentration out of the century-old vines.

Our trip to visit Ferrer Bobet a few years ago made clear just how much these wines are infused with the characteristics of the land. A sniff of the air in Ferrer Bobet’s high-elevation vineyards and you get the same aromas of wild herbs, fennel, and baked earth that rise out of the glass. The llicorella slate soils that crunched beneath our boots during the trip reveal themselves in the earthy mineral depth of this wine. The baking sun that left our forearms red also leaves its mark on the Carignan, Grenache, Syrah, and vines here, yielding voluptuous concentration in the grapes.

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 from 20-year-old estate vineyards are hand-picked and sorted berry by berry. Aging occurs in 60% new French oak barrels, endowing the rich dark fruit profile with subtle spice.

The result is a wine that seems to pack more character into a single bottle than is possible. While it’ll outdrink Rhônes that are twice as expensive, it’s always going to showcase the essence of Priorat.