Paths of the Priorat 2022

If there is one winemaker in Spain whose talent and genius are recognized worldwide, it is that of Alvaro Palacios . His wines, full of complexity and elegance, have breathed new life into the wines of Spain. Made from grapes from 101 plots located in eight villages in the Priorat region, the Camins del Priorat cuvée is a complex blend of 5 grape varieties. The vines are grown organically , the grapes are picked by hand and the juice is fermented using native yeasts. It then rests for 4 to 6 months in oak barrels and tuns. The result is incredibly complex and aromatic, with flavors of dark fruits like black cherry, blackberry and blackcurrant . Then notes of plum , licorice , red flowers, garrigue and oriental spices are revealed. The palate is supple, elegant and silky, the melted tannins give the texture and the very present minerality brings a lot of freshness to a moderate acidity. It's rich, balanced and fine at the same time.

The history of wine in Spain is so old that no one really knows who brought the first vines to the region. When the Phoenicians arrived some 3,000 years ago and founded the present-day cities of Cádiz and Jerez, viticulture was well established and Spanish wines were widely marketed throughout the Mediterranean and North Africa. You could say that Spain is a wine miracle. After years spent away from the world of fine wines, she is today a major player. Investment and ambition in the vineyards and cellars results in increasingly rich and complex (often very alcoholic) and spicy reds which are increasingly appreciated by international consumers. Proud to have more land devoted to vines than any other country, Spain is only beginning to capitalize on this resource consistently. Spain is an anarchic tangle of regions and sub-regions, just as its landscape is an anarchic tangle of incredibly raw landscapes. A glance at a map reveals the climatic diversity among Spain's many wine regions, from the soggy green vineyards of Galicia on the northern Atlantic coast to the toasty vineyards of southeastern the Mediterranean. Spain's saving grace, in terms of viticulture, is the average altitude of its vineyards, above 600 meters. A large part of Spanish vineyards therefore manage to produce grapes of good color and acidity simply because night temperatures are relatively low and the grapes do not ripen until the end of a sufficiently long growing period. But there is real treasure to be found for those willing to dig and, now that a class of connoisseurs has developed in Spain, all manner of ambitious investors have done their part to change the image of Spanish wine . Today, a new generation of winemakers has quietly begun making spectacular wines and experimenting with grape varieties that would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Wine remains an important commodity and is an integral part of Spanish culture.