Date: 29 March 2013
What: 2009 Alvario Palacios Les Terrasses, Priorat, Spain
Purchased: Langton's Wine Brokerage; retails for around $90-100
Food: nothing yet, but pasta with leftover peperonata and pancetta to follow and it should be a cracker with it!
Comments: Ripper gear. It is a blend of garnacha (grenache), carinena, cabernet and shiraz and with all the depth and variety such a blend might suggest. Spicy nose and deep, bright colour. This is a great combination of textures and flavours - layers upon layers upon layers! Quite the Sarah Lee cheesecake in that regard, but without the poxy 80's connotations. Quite tannic (come hither, my inner cheeks! They really get sucked in, which is something I associate with grenache and enjoy heaps when it is part of a package) but not so dominant that you miss the rest of the fun. What I love most, I think, is the fact this is such a combination - spices, darker red fruits (so, to this point, we have the hallmarks of a great shiraz), cigar box/tobacco (thank you my Italian friends) and my favourite wanky term of all - sous bois*. So you can see why this is such a ripper in my view....length, texture, spicy/fruity gear and the ability to reference old world wines and bullshit wine terms. Giddy up! Have grabbed half a dozen of the 08s to go to the cellar. Interested to see the progress.
*Google it. I am not going to do all the work for you!
