Alvaro Palacios Priorat Aubaguetes 2021

1,400 bottles were filled the 10th of February 2023.

The bottled 2021 Les Aubaguetes delivered what the barrel sample had promised and more!) when I tasted it in June 2022. It was bottled with a contained pH of 3.45. It's composed of 71% Garnacha, 28% Cariñena and 1% white varieties that fermented with 55% full clusters in oak vats and then matured in oval French oak foudres for 12 months. It has to be the most elegant, ethereal and nuanced vintage of Les Aubaguetes so far, perfumed and full of energy and light.

The palate is symmetric, precise, like laser cut, harmonious and amazing. It's a very classical wine that develops plenty of different aromas with time in the glass, with hints of meat and blood, iron, violets, blood orange, aromatic herbs and flowers. There is an extra layer of complexity and elegance here; it's more ethereal and subtler, developing more and more nuances as the wine sat in the glass.

Drink 2024 - 2036

Scented and floral nose but really precise with a slatey, mineral verve looming in along with the blueberry, wild raspberry and cranberry fruit. Certainly more red berry fruit here than Dofi or La Baixada. Subtle Mediterranean herbs and moss, too. Ripe yet still very layered, precise and ethereal. Succulent on the medium-bodied palate with fine, mealy tannins treading into a very long, mineral finish with nimble red berries.

Drink or hold

The 2021 Les Aubaguetes hails from old vines planted in Bellmunt del Priorat. Purplish in hue, this wine exudes elegant aromas of cherry, raspberry, undergrowth and dried flowers. Dry and compact, typical of the energy found in Priorat wines, the palate reveals a dusty and juicy mouthfeel. This complex, infusion-like wine lingers with a finish of fruit and oak. Bellmunt is one of the warmest places in Priorat, and the 2021 embodies sun-born richness from start to finish.

Drink 2025 - 2036