Clos I Terrasses - Clos Erasmus Priorat 2020 (750ml)
Price: $400.00
Sale Price: $305.00
| Producer | Clos I Terrasses |
| Country | Spain |
| Region | Priorat |
| Varietal | Grenache |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Sku | 5527 |
| Size | 750ml |
Wine Advocate: 100 Points
The still young and primary 2020 Clos Erasmus feels very floral and ethereal (within Priorat and Clos Erasmus); it's a fresher and lighter expression but without being weak. It's still a baby that needs to burn the baby fat (there are still some lactic notes from the malolactic in barrel). The wine is always around 3.2 or 3.3 pH and has some 15% to 15.5% alcohol but the sensation this year is of a much fresher more balanced and elegant wine. This should make an elegant bottle of mature Priorat with a decade in bottle and I guess it will be long lived. Glorian mentioned that a small lot that normally goes to Laurel was added to the blend of Erasmus resulting in a lot of added freshness and a note of orange blossom which makes sense to me with the floral character of the wines and the extra freshness I perceived. This is really beautiful. It's a very special vintage of Erasmus that unfurls incredible complexity and tantalizing aromas with time in the glass?blood orange (talk about freshness!) curry and cassis. It has great purity complexity elegance and finesse... A very different Clos Erasmus. Bravo! There are some 3600 bottles. It was bottled in May 2022. Daphne Glorian and her team are also planting for the future: they replanted Escales her first vineyard in Priorat in 2017/2018 and between 2020 and 2021 she planted over five hectares in Solanes (technically El Lloar) mostly Garnacha and some Syrah with a magnificent view of the village of Gratallops. She bought the property in 2010 but never got around to planting it until now. She needs to increase volumes because there is a lot more demand than supply. I tasted the wines from 2019 and 2020 two challenging vintages that delivered very good wines. 2019 was a drier vintage than 2018 a very dry year (more than warm) that has produced muscular wines that need time in bottle Mediterranean wines from a sunny vintage a vintage Glorian compares with 2012 and 2015. 2020 was the year of mildew but as they farm organically they are constantly working in the vineyards. So they reacted as soon as the mildew appeared but they realized it was a different strain that gave them a lot of work; they treated the vineyards every four days. They ended up losing maybe 10% of the crop but not much more than what she lost in 2019 from the heat wave. The wines from 2020 benefited from the spring rains in terms of freshness and the wines are superbly balanced and have lots of finesse. Even if I didn't taste the 2021 vintage we discussed it a bit; she told me there will be more wine and that the wines will have a different profile that is more delicate lighter and more floral as there was more rain and yields were. I look forward to them...
