Clos I Terrasses España Laurel 2021 750ml

The 2021 Laurel, the second wine from Clos Erasmus was produced with grapes from younger vines, between five and 40 years old, and is a blend of 80% Garnacha, 11% Syrah and 9% Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes were cooled down for 24 hours before sorting and destemming and then put in the vat where they warmed up and started fermenting naturally. They did a soft vinification with short pumping overs to avoid extraction, and the fermentation lasted two to three weeks followed by four weeks of maceration. The wine matured in oak vat, barrel and amphorae for 18 months. It’s super aromatic, floral and expressive, clean and elegant, delicate and ethereal. It has a velvety palate that is nicely textured, seamless, elegant and balanced and with a focused, clean, long finish. I see the meaty side of Syrah here. It has 14.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.3. The oak is completely integrated despite the fact that the wine is very young. 28,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2023.

The 2022 Laurel has the grapes from the younger vines but still not the ones from Manyetes that will contribute to this wine in 2023 for the first time. This is quite aromatic, young tender and peachy, attractive. She finds this to be a classical vintage, balanced and ripe without excess, and the tannins are polished and elegant. In 2022, they used a little less Cabernet, so the wine is mostly Garnacha, with almost 20% Syrah and perhaps 3% Cabernet Sauvignon. It matured mostly in concrete, oak vats and some 30 barrels, but some 20% of the volume matured in amphorae. She's not crazy about amphorae; she finds that they close the wines. It's medium-bodied, has a fine texture and feels elegant and light with a lot of finesse. She doesn't want too long macerations with the grapes from the younger vines, but it has clout. It comes in at 15% alcohol, has very fine tannins and comes through as balanced and civilized, quite approachable already with mellow acidity. She's very careful that the tannins don't have too much astringency. 23,000 bottles were filled in May 2024. Tasted 10 months after bottling, the wine is very drinkable. This is a young wine that is ever changing, with the new vines, and it will change even more in the coming years. (Luis Gutiérrez)

A robust wine that’s silky and seductively smooth in texture, the 2022 Laurel is made from younger vines than Daphne Glorian’s Clos Erasmus wines but vinified similarly, blending a majority of Garnatxa with Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. It spends time in neutral barrels used for Erasmus and some amphorae. There’s a wild character to the wine, a mineral-driven feral quality that speaks to its Priorat-ness, complex in red fruit, supple tannins, and persistent floral aromatics. Drink now and over the next 5-10 years.