Clos Erasmus
Laurel Priorat Garnacha Blend
Priorat, Catalunya, Spain
Stewed black plums, dried bluefruit, creme de Violet, spicecake, coffee, cinnamon, allspice, clove, licorice whip, pastis, powdered sugar, earth, truffle. Richly textured, creamy almost but held up by the tannin. Peak drinking for me.
Stewed black plums, dried bluefruit, creme de Violet, spicecake, coffee, cinnamon, allspice, clove, licorice whip, pastis, powdered sugar, earth, truffle. Richly textured, creamy almost but held up by the tannin. Peak drinking for me.
Jun 4th, 2022Great showing, perfect cork, completely alive, complex, beguiling mix of dried petals, exotic spices and deeply alluring black fruit character, crushed to roasted. Tannins have integrated and made for a supple but postured sip. ‘05 still has my attention but this was showing very well.
Great showing, perfect cork, completely alive, complex, beguiling mix of dried petals, exotic spices and deeply alluring black fruit character, crushed to roasted. Tannins have integrated and made for a supple but postured sip. ‘05 still has my attention but this was showing very well.
May 9th, 2021Gorgeous. Resolved, long, packed with luscious fruit character supported by sweet oak, minerals, earth, flowers and spices. Roasted black plum, crushed black currants, berry confiture, sandalwood, allspice, cardamom, bay leaf, spruce, cigar wrapper, menthol, pulverized rock, cigar ash, truffle, lilacs, dry aged meat. Can really pick out the Cabernet component, which I’m usually against but I believe the time in bottle brought harmony to it. The dimension it brings suits the wine well. Great example of alluring DMS with its earthy/truffle notes.
Gorgeous. Resolved, long, packed with luscious fruit character supported by sweet oak, minerals, earth, flowers and spices. Roasted black plum, crushed black currants, berry confiture, sandalwood, allspice, cardamom, bay leaf, spruce, cigar wrapper, menthol, pulverized rock, cigar ash, truffle, lilacs, dry aged meat. Can really pick out the Cabernet component, which I’m usually against but I believe the time in bottle brought harmony to it. The dimension it brings suits the wine well. Great example of alluring DMS with its earthy/truffle notes.
Feb 8th, 2020Substantial texture and weigh albeit very tight and wound up. Dark, meaty, filled with spices, tobacco, tar, and mixed black fruits. There’s a considerable amount of brett but it integrates into the wines richness and earthy minerality. Struck by the length of tannin perception and mineral core that envelopes the wine across the palate. Definitely a more masculine expression than LBT.
Substantial texture and weigh albeit very tight and wound up. Dark, meaty, filled with spices, tobacco, tar, and mixed black fruits. There’s a considerable amount of brett but it integrates into the wines richness and earthy minerality. Struck by the length of tannin perception and mineral core that envelopes the wine across the palate. Definitely a more masculine expression than LBT.
Oct 19th, 2019
Great perfumes, red and purple flowers on the nose. Mid fruits and beautiful elegance on the palate. Tasted at Clos Erasmus with Daphne.
Great perfumes, red and purple flowers on the nose. Mid fruits and beautiful elegance on the palate. Tasted at Clos Erasmus with Daphne.
2 people found it helpfulMay 19th, 2015
Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve sort of avoided the wines from Priorat. Not for any ideological reasons, more so I simply found the wines too often over the top for my palate. However, after years of skipping offers, I bit the bullet a couple years ago and swooped up a couple bottles of Laurel which is a wine made by Clos i Terrasses (most famously known for Clos Erasmus). I’m so glad I did. What I discovered was a wine of tremendous character and beauty.
The 2019 version of this wine is no different. It pours an almost magenta red ruby with a translucent core and moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, raspberries, plums, purple flowers, dried herbs, organic soil, limestone. There’s abundant fruit but it comes across super fresh, not jammy. There is also the faintest whiff of pyrazines. On the palate, the wine is dry, medium bodied and confirming the complex fruit set and non-fruit characteristics. Medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Such a fresh, youthful and gorgeous wine. For those that are wondering, Laurel is aged in a combination of neutral oak, concrete egg and amphora.
Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve sort of avoided the wines from Priorat. Not for any ideological reasons, more so I simply found the wines too often over the top for my palate. However, after years of skipping offers, I bit the bullet a couple years ago and swooped up a couple bottles of Laurel which is a wine made by Clos i Terrasses (most famously known for Clos Erasmus). I’m so glad I did. What I discovered was a wine of tremendous character and beauty.
The 2019 version of this wine is no different. It pours an almost magenta red ruby with a translucent core and moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, raspberries, plums, purple flowers, dried herbs, organic soil, limestone. There’s abundant fruit but it comes across super fresh, not jammy. There is also the faintest whiff of pyrazines. On the palate, the wine is dry, medium bodied and confirming the complex fruit set and non-fruit characteristics. Medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Such a fresh, youthful and gorgeous wine. For those that are wondering, Laurel is aged in a combination of neutral oak, concrete egg and amphora.
A blend of younger vines, declassified Clos Erasmus and the remaining Cabernet Sauvignon. In all, 70% Garnacha, 20% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Indigenous yeasts and matured in a combination of oak vats, concrete, used barriques and amphorae for 16 months. I’ve been somewhat leery of Priorat over the last ten or so years, largely because the wines were overblown for so many years but after getting offered this wine three years in a row, I finally took the advice of my retailer and picked up a couple of bottles. I should have picked up at least a six pack. Poured into a decanter a couple of hours prior to service. Visually, it’s quite a brilliant wine to behold. The deepest of ruby but it’s the way the light reflects off this wine that transfixes the beholder. The nose is drop dead gorgeous, redolent of red cherry fruit with the brightest, freshest of bramble fruit, underbrush, Herbs de Provence, dusty gravel road. The palate displays more cherry and bramble fruit with some Near East spices. Well endowed with structure and a texture to die for. So much verve! This is unbelievably fresh for 15%. This is a wine (and perhaps a region) that I need to pay more attention to. Paired very well with Osso Bucco and saffron risotto. Outstanding now with some air.
A blend of younger vines, declassified Clos Erasmus and the remaining Cabernet Sauvignon. In all, 70% Garnacha, 20% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Indigenous yeasts and matured in a combination of oak vats, concrete, used barriques and amphorae for 16 months. I’ve been somewhat leery of Priorat over the last ten or so years, largely because the wines were overblown for so many years but after getting offered this wine three years in a row, I finally took the advice of my retailer and picked up a couple of bottles. I should have picked up at least a six pack. Poured into a decanter a couple of hours prior to service. Visually, it’s quite a brilliant wine to behold. The deepest of ruby but it’s the way the light reflects off this wine that transfixes the beholder. The nose is drop dead gorgeous, redolent of red cherry fruit with the brightest, freshest of bramble fruit, underbrush, Herbs de Provence, dusty gravel road. The palate displays more cherry and bramble fruit with some Near East spices. Well endowed with structure and a texture to die for. So much verve! This is unbelievably fresh for 15%. This is a wine (and perhaps a region) that I need to pay more attention to. Paired very well with Osso Bucco and saffron risotto. Outstanding now with some air.
1 person found it helpfulApr 4th, 2021
By the end of night one the cerebral roller coaster ride left me bewildered. Despite being guilty of infanticide, the wine was not necessarily closed for business. Rather, it was like tasting four or five different wines over a few hours. A darker than usual kirsch provides a canvas for the swirling plethora of flowers, herbs, meat, and earth, with a distinctly saline minerality (which might be the only constant here). By night two it reached its destination of charmingly pleasurable and no longer required as much thought, thankfully.
By the end of night one the cerebral roller coaster ride left me bewildered. Despite being guilty of infanticide, the wine was not necessarily closed for business. Rather, it was like tasting four or five different wines over a few hours. A darker than usual kirsch provides a canvas for the swirling plethora of flowers, herbs, meat, and earth, with a distinctly saline minerality (which might be the only constant here). By night two it reached its destination of charmingly pleasurable and no longer required as much thought, thankfully.
Mar 11th, 2017
More plush black fruit, velvet and herbs than the almost harshly red-fruited '14. Delicious
More plush black fruit, velvet and herbs than the almost harshly red-fruited '14. Delicious
Dec 10th, 2016