This youthful version of the Priorat comes from the Porrera celler of Joan Simó, but was given to me by a UK wine buyer who was at Hotel-Hostal Sport in Falset when we ate dinner there.

As he was leaving, Dave Canadas dropped by our table and bequeathed me three nearly fully bottles of red Priorat he’d been tasting.  The wine geek in me had to do a blind tasting on each back at our hotel.

The ‘Journey to Priorat‘ is made from 60% Garnaxa, 20% Cabernet, 15% Syrah and 5% Merlot.  It has a medium plus shade of ruby red with purple pomegranate tinges and is youthful with medium plus aromas of Byng cherry and deep, black currant, crushed thyme, sage, tarragon and minerals.

The palate is dry with medium plus acidity, full on, grippy tannins and alcohol that while it is not noticeably high, is actually right up there.  The medium plus flavours include soy sauce, soft star anise, more dried herbs, black currant and blackberry with green olive.  The cedar-laced finish is better than average.

I found this wine to be well balanced and drinking well, but it has an ageing window of 5-7 more years.  WSET Good.