Red Wine Triaca Priorat 2015
Ca l’Apotecari de Porrera
D.O.Q Priorat, Catalonia, Tarragona
65% Grenache, 35% Merlot
Limited Edition of 3.335 Numbered Bottles
How does it Taste?
Dark ruby hue with little variation at the rim. Big burst of fresh red fruit, light slatey notes, minor herbs, buttery oak notes, but generally integrated, alcohol a bit pronounced in the nose initially, but well balanced. Red fruit most prominent on the palate. Surprisingly light although it does betray the overall bass of Priorat. Quite dry tannins that linger.
Serving Temperature
We recommend serving it at 16 ºC.
Aging
Eighteen months in French Oak Barrels.
Elaboration
Harvest in September and/or October. Maceration of 29 days.
How is the Exclusive Red wine Triaca 2015 limited edition produced?
Produced exclusively with grapes grown under ecological standards in Santi’s vineyard ¨Los Perers¨, based on extremely rocky schist soils called “Llicorell”. No irrigation. Manual harvest in the early hours of the day. Selection in both, the field and the cellar. Refrigeration upon arrival. Destemming with minimal damage to the berries and cold maceration for two days. Fermentation in inox tanks at a rather low temperature (22º) and ulterior maceration in the same tank. ML fermentation once in the aging barrels of french oak. After 18 months of maturation, sedimentation takes place only by means of cold (while awaiting the D.O.Q.’s quality assessment).
How it’s bottled?
The wine is then bottled without filtration and there is a limited production of the 3.335 bottles for 2015. A minimum of 18 months of aging in the bottle takes place before release.
Technical sheet
- Appellation: D.O.Q. Priorat
- Type of wine: Red wine aged in barrels
- Varieties: 65% Grenache; 35% Merlot
- Alcohol grade: 16% vol.
- Vineyard origin: Los Perers, Porrera, Tarragona, Spain
- Age of vineyard: Planted in 2002
- Winemaking: The traditional method
- Harvest grape: September – October
- Spontaneous fermentation: Maceration for 29 days
- Aging: 18 months in French oak barrels
- Bottle: Bordelaise 75 cl.
- Stopper: Natural cork (45×24 mm.)
- Capsule: 100% wax
The Story behind the Vineyard Ca l’Apotecari de Porrera, Red Wine Triaca and its owner Santi Puig
It all started with the great-uncle of ‘Santi’, Santi’s grandfather’s brother, Jaume, was Porrera’s last ‘Apotecari’. Although he has been dead for a long time, during the outbreak of the Spanish civil war, Santi (the current owner and winemaker) only took over the ‘Uncle Jaume’ plots at the beginning of the century. These plots are called: ‘Los Perers’ and ‘Les Eres’.
Los Perers’ is between 400 and 500 meters of altitude oriented to the northwest with a very abrupt configuration that is adapted in terraces to facilitate the work of the Vineyard with better water retention. These abrupt profiles and the Licorella soils are what makes Priorat such a characteristic wine. The land is made up of a very thin layer of earth on imposing shale formations that force the plants to pierce them with their roots. This is what provides them with the necessary water resources when apparently there are no more. Very few nutrients are found at this depth.
It was updated in 2000 with new plants of four varieties and very low-yielding clones: Garnacha, Cariñena, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. The lack of nutrients, added to the low-yield characteristics of the clones, produces between 500 and 700 grams of an extraordinary grape per plant. The Grenache is planted on the upper terraces, which favors a clean and well-ventilated environment so that the grapes can ripen without diseases. The Merlot is located in a lower corner and with little insolation that adapts very well to its early maturation.
The Project
The objective is to make a very select wine in small quantities that is comparable to those of the ‘Garagistes‘ or the ‘Supertuscans‘. As the ‘Wine is made in the Vineyard, we pay great attention to agricultural practices, fully compatible with ecological standards, and allow, to a certain extent, the interaction of adventitious plants (Santi refuses to call them’ Bad Herbs ‘) that enrich the taste and aromas of the wine
The increasingly hot summers have raised the challenge of preserving the freshness and primary aromas in wines made with grapes from warm vineyards such as those of Priorat. In this sense, Los Perers offers a clear advantage with its northwest orientation. The secret of real freshness in these conditions is based on viticultural practices such as preserving the leaves that protect the grape from excessive sunlight or the sprouting of the plants to concentrate its resources on the ripening of the fruit, thus achieving a much better balance between organoleptic maturity and acidity, that is, freshness. ‘Les Eres’ is intended for white sweethearts, with its floral magic, but will still have to pass a certain time to obtain a quality product.
After more than a decade of experimenting at the Ca l’Apotecari Winery, Santi decided that he was ripe to launch his first wine.
‘Making wine is an Extremely Slow Thing’
How is Triaca made?
The vineyard is run by ecological standards, although it is not certified.
The harvest date is decided based on three variables: sugar level, acidity, and phenolic maturity. The first and second parameters are determined by chemical and physical analysis techniques, but the third is established by organoleptic means (with the help of wild boars, a very demanding animal). The grapes are harvested in the early hours of the day and taken to the winery. There it is refrigerated overnight, the next day it is skidded and placed in a stainless steel tank, also refrigerated, to do what is called cold maceration.
A couple of days later, the refrigeration is turned off, to allow the berries to slowly begin to ferment with their own yeasts. During the next three weeks, the fermentation temperature remains significantly low. Once this is completed, the skins are left to marinate for a week or two more before the pasta is drained and pressed. Santi only incorporates a small amount of pressed wine into the final wine to guarantee a sufficient level of tannins to facilitate aging. The coupage is made before malolactic fermentation.
The ‘Malo’ (Bad), as it is colloquially called, takes place in the aging barrels deep within the cellar. These barrels are made of French oak, but not too new, since Santi does not want the smoky aromas of the wood to dominate. There he will stay for more than a year and a half.
After this time, the wine is returned to a refrigerated tank to promote any residual precipitation before being bottled. This last stabilization process is done exclusively by means of the cold (often the weather helps) while the wine is subjected to a tasting panel of the DOQ Priorat Regulatory Council that must guarantee its quality and, if approved, award it the label. of the DOQ.Subsequently, the bottles are kept in the cellar for another year and a half to allow the last maturation before going out on the street.
How do the Triaca DOQ Priorat Red Wines taste in general?
Despite the fact that the word ‘minerality’ is very controversial, Santi cannot find a better word to define what it is that makes Priorat wines so characteristic. If you visit Priorat, drink water from the ‘Minas’ of the Vineyards, which will give you an exact definition of what this word means in wine. Priorat wines are also a cluster of aromas and smell with tannins tamed by time and alcohol that articulates the whole, rounding it out. It is for this reason that these wines require such long maturation times.
Triaca is a typical Priorat wine with an outstanding characteristic: Its Freshness
Triaca is a typical Priorat, but with a characteristic that makes it unique: its freshness. The objective we pursue, both in the vineyards and in the winery, is to preserve this penetrating acidity that makes the wine open in your glass, releasing wave after wave of aromas, among which we would highlight, surprisingly, that of fresh fruit.
Santi personally prefers to avoid decanting and let the wine open itself in the glass to be able to ‘contemplate’ the transformations that take place. Santi says that he would never tire of this show and it seems to me that neither do we. Somehow it is like walking with your eyes closed through the landscape of the region, stumbling over stumps of fennel or brambles, while listening to the struggling races of the partridges as they take flight and the hissing trajectories of the lizards, with waves of rosemary and thyme entwined with these sounds.
Santi will never make you a long list of the use of aromas of red fruits and others. It tastes bad to me, but what Santi tells us that he feels in a glass of Triaca is the earth under his feet, populated by an infinity of life forms, the sky above his head, also inhabited by a large number of animals and vines linking the two universes, the underground one with that of air and light.
Raimon –
Dear Sirs, I am Peter Steve a Priorat enthusiast. I want to congratulate you for getting this high level wine at an affordable price, I encourage you to continue like this.
Raimon –
Hi, I’m Hanna from Aberdeen, who lives in Castellon, this wine is charming, good price and my friends believe that it is a great reserve of the expensive ones. A pleasant surprise.
Raimon –
Me llamo Tony, vivo and Strafford, UK. Siempre busco nuevas cosas que probar y he encontrado este vino a buen precio, una ganga. Buena compra, lo recomiendo.
Raimon –
Hello, I just wanted to say that the bottles arrived very well and well packaged, very professional. Thank you.
Tom Utrecht
Xp –
It’s so nice to have finally found this wine, I have been in Priorat many years ago, just the smell brought me back to this great time I had…. It’s exactly how I remembered, Xp
John –
Such a great taste, you can see, smell and taste that Shanti is one of the best winemakers, hope 2016 will be as great as well.
Jackob Ferry –
I am a french living in London, I know about wine but the quality of Priorat wines you cannot believed, I recomend to visit and taste the wines.