2021 Alvaro Palacios, L'Ermita, Priorat

The bottled 2021 L'Ermita has lower alcohol than usual, 13.9% (the lowest ever!) and a pH of 3.31 with 5.62 grams of acidity. It fermented with 55% full clusters with indigenous yeasts in oak vats, with punching down of the cap and a maceration of 41 days. The wine matured in oval French oak foudres for 12 months. They had snow in January and then some rain in late August, and the ripeness was very slow. It's a very subtle year; surprisingly, it can be born from such arid and dry slate soils. It has delivered what the wine has always promised. It has a lot of energy and subtleness, and there's something ethereal about it, contained strength, harmonious, with watermelon freshness, notes of Mediterranean herbs and rockrose; and it has more elegant tannins than Finca Dofí. It's a velvety wine, with very contained wood (unnoticeable), very clean and precise. After one hour in the glass, it showed a lot more depth and complexity than Aubaguetes. This is another legendary vintage for l'Ermita. 2,925 bottles were filled the 13th of February 2023.

76% Garnacha, 23% Cariñena, 1% Garnacha Blanc, Macabeo and Pedro Ximénez. Aged 12 months in foudre. First vintage 2017. Tough, husky style. The essence of Priorat – stoney, grippy, granitic. Dark red fruit. Dense, intense, lots of intrinsic quality that needs time to emerge. Heat on the finish. There's a touch of sourness to the fruit at this young age. (RH)