Alvaro Palacios Alvaro Palacios Camins del Priorat 2023 750ml

Racy red bramble berries with notes of hibiscus, pomegranates, cochineal and cherries. Some chewy tannins add more gravity to the otherwise medium-bodied palate. Juicy, firm and stony in the medium-long finish. Better in 2025.

A fresh, balanced red, with fragrant hints of dried rosemary and thyme, resin, and milled pepper accenting the core of creamy black raspberry and black plum fruit, enmeshed with fine, taut tannins. Stony finish. Garnacha, Samsó, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Drink now through 2033. (Alison Napjus)

The 2023 Camins del Priorat, the regional blend from eight villages (and some 90 vineyards), was produced with 45% Garnacha, 17% Cariñena, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 9% Syrah and up to 6% white grapes. It fermented in a mixture of stainless steel, concrete and oak vats with indigenous yeasts and part of full clusters with a maceration of 21 days and a short élevage in oak barrels and vats of four months. The wine showed a dark color and a ripe nose, samples can sometimes be difficult, this showed quite Mediterranean with notes of aromatic herbs and also a herbal but ripe touch from the French grapes. It's modern, international, with foreign varieties... This is not easy, in the context of the other wines. They expected to fill some 195,000 bottles in April 2024. 89-91 POINTS (Luis Gutiérrez)