2016 Les Crestes
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Grapes from younger vines are used for the 2016 Les Crestes, which is also released earlier. It's a blend of Garnacha with 20% Cariñena and 10% Syrah matured in second use French oak barrels for eight months. 2016 was a dry growing season saved by a cooler September with some rain, which resulted in a relaxed and long harvest of grapes with good ripeness and acidity. It's young, tender and aromatic, a gentle Priorat with a juicy palate and a fresh personality. Really attractive and pleasant. 48,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2017.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
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The 2016 Les Crestes checks in as 80% Garnacha and 10% each of Cariñena and Syrah, brought up in neutral French oak. Outstanding notes of black cherries, blackberries, graphite, lead pencil shavings, violets and beautiful minerality all emerge from the glass and this beauty is ripe, plump, rounded, and incredibly textured on the palate, with sweet tannin. It's a beautifully pure, sexy little fruit bomb to drink over the coming 4-5 years. Mas Doix is the project of two related families, the Doix and Llagosteras who farm 19 hectares of vines near the village of Poboleda. They cultivate six vineyards, three of them driving the names of the cuvées at the estate: Crestes, Salanques and Doix. Crestes is the youngest site and is a three-hectare vineyard planted mostly to Garnatxa, which makes up the bulk of the Crestes cuvée. There’s roughly 10% each of Syrah and Cariñena that make it into this cuvée and it’s brought up all in neutral oak. The Salanques vineyard is a steep, three-hectare site located near the village of Poboleda. It consists of 70- to 90-year-old Garnatxa and Carinyena planted at an elevation between 350 and 450 meters above sea level. A small amount of Syrah is also blended into the Salanques cuvée and it sees 12 months in French oak. The Doix Vineyard is the oldest vineyard of the estate and is a steep, natural amphitheater ranging from 350 meters above sea level to 500 meters above sea level. The fractured llicorella soils that dominate the region and the old vines here go back to 1902. The Doix Costers del Vinyes Velles cuvée is roughly equal parts Carinyena and Garnacha and is aged all in new French oak. In addition to the single vineyard cuvées, they also release a 1902 cuvée made from the oldest vines of Carinyena planted in the Doix vineyard. Fermented in tank with a long maceration followed by aging in new French oak barrels, this spectacular wine is one of the top examples of Carinyena in the world. Unfortunately, it’s made in tiny quantities and is almost impossible to find in the marketplace.