2004 Sara Pérez y René Barbier Gratallops Partida Bellvisos Magnum

When Rene Barbier got the abandoned very old "coster" (steeply sloping traditional Priorat vineyard) back into production they thought they had bought a plot of Carinyena (Carignan) ... and to their great surprise they discovered that 40% of the plot consisted of Garnatxa Peluda (indigenous Grenache). This grape ripens before the Carinyena (Carignan) and gives more freshness. Coincidence and luck because it is the last piece of the puzzle that was needed to transfer the balance of Bellvisos.

The 2005 vintage is a very special one because it comes from the private collection of Rene and Sara. As Rene himself can explain better, his opinion is that the Partida Bellvisos wines benefit from a long aging. In our many conversations with Rene Barbier, he personally finds (and this is even more strongly confirmed by Sara) that his wines are actually always drunk too early. He indicates that it is economically necessary to release the wines annually, but in his heart he would much rather release the wines after at least 5 years. Sara is even more assertive about this and finds that too much and too often attention is paid to the drinking window (and points) of the wine critics. Despite the fact that all their wines always receive very high ratings, if it were up to Sara she would much rather not participate in this circus and it creates too many label and points drinkers instead of wine lovers and connoisseurs. Rene and Sara therefore come up with a 2005 Partida Bellvissos that he will only release commercially after 20 years. He only bottled this in magnums and with this he wants to prove to wine lovers that his wines only become more beautiful with maturation/aging. We as importers received a handful of magnum bottles of this 2005, so it is an absolute collector's item and this will only be released in a larger edition in 2025 (but then only a few hundred magnum bottles because it is not being made). All this to prove with 'facts' that this wine is more beautiful and alive after 20 years.

The Gratallops Partida Bellvisos Magnum is a dazzling wine with a long maceration that needs oak and time in the bottle to be reborn, fine, seductive, fresh and powerful ... in which the Llicorella (slate soil) has inextricably shaped the wine. Like all the vintages, this 2005 is also concentrated because the yields were small and the wines tight. The Grattalops 2005 is a blend of Garnacha and Carinena from vines with an average age of 65 years. It has been aged for 12 months in French oak. Dark ruby in colour, it shows a bouquet of crushed stone, scorched earth, lavender, espresso, black cherry and plums. Full-bodied, in the mouth it has excellent volume, layers of fruit, excellent grip and a soft personality. This wine has a lot of character, great acidity and fine minerality, with a clean, very focused finish and so has only seen the cellars of Clos Mogador for more than 15 years.