2017 Alvaro Palacios, L'Ermita, Priorat

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

There is even more Cariñena in this warm vintage, and the varietal breakdown of the 2017 L'Ermita comes to a majority of Garnacha but with a notable 20 Cariñena and some 2 of white grapes. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in oak vats and matured in oak barrels of different sizes for 16 months. The grapes were picked on the 18th of October, which is extremely late considering that 2017 was their earliest harvest ever! It has a surprisingly high percentage of Cariñena, the highest ever for L'Ermita, yet the wine feels like the essence of a Mediterranean Garnacha-floral, expressive, open, insinuating, refined and elegant. It has great depth and refined tannins and feels light on its feet, yet it's full of inner power, intense and persistent. It's detailed, nuanced, clean, transparent, focused and pure. The flavors are very precise and clean and the aftertaste extremely long. A truly great L'Ermita, again, transcending the conditions of the vintage. They got 15.2 hectoliters per hectare. 2,900 bottles were filled in May 2019. This will be the first wine to carry the new Priorat classification Gran Viña Clasificada, the equivalent of a Grand Cru in Burgundy.