2010 Cami Pesseroles

(60% carinena and 40% garnacha): Opaque ruby. Expressive, mineral-accented aromas of black and blue fruit liqueur, potpourri and licorice, with a spicy quality adding lift. Chewy, tightly focused cassis and blueberry flavors show excellent depth, a refreshingly bitter edge and a suave floral pastille quality. Offers a superb mix of richness and vivacity. Closes sappy, spicy and very long, with slow-building tannins and a lingering mineral note.

The 2010 Cami Pesseroles is a very old vineyard planted in 1920 with 60% Carinena and 40% Garnacha. This wine ages in barriques (according to Sara Perez, not all wines work in terracotta jars, this being one of them) and has a nose with more black fruit, blackberries, morello cherries, slate and tar, with some lovely rusticity. It has superb acidity which gives it an electric feeling. The tannins are very fine. An elegant, fresh and pleasant blend showing the true character of Carinena. Drink 2014-2020. If you have been a little disconnected from Martinet the news is that the five different vineyards they own, have been vinified and bottled separately since the 2006 vintage. But already in 2000 they went fully organic, and they do a lot more than rules and certifications require. All wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts which make for longer, slower fermentations, and the wine ferments at a lower temperature. When it comes to French grapes they are part of Clos Martinet and they don’t want to get rid of them. They will keep something like 12% Syrah and 8% between Merlot and Cabernet in the blend. Sara Perez’s explanation is that only in the new century did they really learn to work with Carinena and Garnacha: Priorat would not have been what it is today without its foreign grapes. For example, one of the things they do now is work with the full clusters of Garnacha and destem the Carinena. If none of this is new to you, hopefully next year I’ll be able to review the first commercial white and even a sweet rancio from them. Stay tuned. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800