Montsant, Spain!!!

I am especially excited to taste these wines. I recently returned from a trip to Spain and we made day trip from Barcelona out into the mountains of Monsant/Priorat. This is one of the wineries we visited. Fantastic wines made with grueling attention to detail. They are almost a whole town of Farmers co-opting into the winery. A very large facility that has been around since the middle ages! They (the whole town) have been making bulk wine for a long time, but for the last couple of decades have been focusing on global trade and have been upgrading their wines to a marvelous effect. The wines of Priorat and Monsant are BIG and LUSH with a load of Grenache. We will try 4 wines from Cellar de Capcanes. 1 wine grown in 2 soils, so we can contrast and compare the different flavors produced by them!! I am geeking out!!! We throw in a fun sparkling wine from Penedes, also from the Barcelona-ish area.

Check them out @ Humble Vine.

Wednesday, Oct 24th. 4pm till the bottles are dry

1+1=3 Cava NV $17

Spain- This Cava is made in the traditional Champagne method with secondary fermentation occurring in the bottle. This process adds complex notes to the clean citrus flavors. A delicate bead in the glass of soft golden color. The nose bursts with rich pear, green apple and hints of cream. On the palate the wine shows great finesse and balance with notes of papaya and pear rounded out with hints of hazelnuts, finishing with crisp acidity and freshness. (91 points from Robert Parker)

Cellar de Capçanes , Mas Picosa ‘Flor en Flor’ 2015 $16

Rubbery red berry aromas are more than satisfactory for this type of Garnacha blend. Its linear, light-bodied palate is fresh and punchy, with salty plum and berry flavors. While not very extracted, it lasts on the finish.

Cellar de Capçanes, Mas Collet Selecio 2015 $19

Medium deep red with flecks of violet; ripe cherry flavors; blueberries; smooth well integrated oaky, toasty aromas; medium bodied; fruit driven; fine ripe sweetness; good acidity; perfectly balanced; round ripe tannins; long ripe fruit finish

Cellar de Capçanes, La nit de las Garnatxes Slate 2015 $23

If you thought terroir was much over-hyped, think again. Capcanes have produced four Garnacha wines from vines grown in 4 distinctly different types of soil. This one comes from slate rich soil which gives the wine a truly robust character and structure, with some dark, baked red fruit aromas as a result of its hotter, lower-altitude location.

Try it against the other three in the Garnatxes series which come from clay, sand and limestone soils. Intense cherry color; this is a really complex wine with a high mineral taste and balsamic aroma.

Cellar de Capçanes, La nit de las Garnatxes Limestone 2015. $23

This Garnacha wine focuses on what high limestone content can give a wine – delicacy, elegance and subtlety in its structure, but with an underpinning of intense mineral character, that lifts and freshens the plum and cherry varietal character. It's part of an excellent series of wines showing the effect of terroir, but that aside, it's a wine of remarkable quality at its price.