Rene Barbier: Wine On The Rocks

“…stunning examples of what Spain can produce but so rarely does.” Robert Parker

"Gratallops wines are amongst the most stunning in all of Spain. The 'Gratallops pioneers' proved beyond doubt that garnacha and cariñena are perfectly capable of producing highly complex, quality wine - as long as yields are low. The result is that Gratallops wines are amongst the most stunning in all of Spain: their concentration and character are outstanding as is their price." John Radford, The New Spain

In his recent Priorat review, The Wine Advocate's Neal Martin states simply that "Clos Mogador needs no introduction." Indeed. Rene Barbier is a living legend in Priorat and Clos Mogador and Clos Manyetes are unquestionably two of Spain’s greatest wines. This shines through in a big way in 2009 – an excellent vintage that was warm and dry and predisposed to deliver more richness and power than 2008. It was interesting then to taste the Mogador and Manyetes releases and find wines that seemed to take their cue from much more elegant years. Both wines were, and are, considerably more refined than just about all other Priorats that we have come across (in Spain) from this... read more