Alvaro Palacios Priorat la Baixada 2019 750ml

The 2019 La Baixada is from the 1.3-hectare vineyard of the same name that is in the process of being classified as “vinya classificada.” The wine was produced with Garnacha and 2% white grapes from 21-year-old-vines on steep costers (slopes) of slate (llicorella). The destemmed and lightly crushed grapes fermented in oak vats with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in a French oval foudre for 14 months. This has a lot in common with Finca Dofí, from a common paraje that is planted with wood from old vines from L’Ermita and Aubagetes that were not clean and delivers very low yields of small berries with thick skin and very loose bunches, a qualitative advantage that made Palacios bottle the wine separately even at the young age of the vines. There is purity here, and the wine is direct and spherical, with round and glossy tannins. The élevage of these 2019s is very subtle and has not marked the wines; there is great purity of aromas and flavors. 2,890 bottles were filled in May 2021.