Wine Advocate: 99 Points
The 2021 Clos Erasmus is not a shy wine and comes in at 15% alcohol but with a pH of 3.3. The search here is for balance as power comes as a given in Priorat. It was produced with 70% Garnacha and 30% Syrah mostly from 40-year-old vines except for a small plot of around 85-year-old vines. The vineyards are certified organic and they've practiced biodynamics since 2004 but never got certification. The vinification is simple and the same as for Laurel: the bunches cooled down for 24 hours before being sorted and destemmed then the grapes were put into the vat where they warm up and start fermenting with the indigenous yeasts. It was pressed and put in barrels 40% of them new where it underwent malolactic and aged for 18 months. It feels like the most elegant and ethereal Erasmus ever despite the 15% alcohol on the label. It's very young and feels a bit shy slightly developing notes of Mediterranean herbs wild berries and flowers and is a little closed but very harmonious and insinuating. It's medium to full-bodied with very fine and elegant but abundant tannins. It does feel lighter than previous vintages possibly the effect of the cooler year. 3400 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2023. The beautiful vineyard of Solanes?4.7 hectares located in El Lloar and planted in the Natural Park under the cliffs of the Serra de Sant Pau?is coming into production. With that Daphne Glorian has close to 26 hectares mostly in Gratallops and she bought a large vineyard in Manyetes from René Barbier. She's made a white from three hectares there but they still don't know what they are going to do with the red grapes?they might contribute to the Laurel red or be bottled separately. She was very happy about 2021 about which she told me that "after 2019 and 2020 which were pretty much in line with what we expect in the Priorat in terms of climate generally warm and dry 2021 was a complete outlier. Sixty centimeters of snow in January followed by regular rains during the growing season make it a 'cold-climate' wine. The wines are delicate flowery with strong acidity and tremendous aging potential. We also got volumes we had not seen since 1997 around 23-24 hectoliters per hectare thanks to good conditions at the time of flowering."
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