mas doix salanques 2004 priorat

very smoothed out from the last time i tasted about a year ago. tannins have melted into the background and acid also, so now you taste abundant fruit with accent on blackberry and black cherry/kirsch and plum, maybe blueberry. a touch of lavender and very mild garrigue (provencal spice including lavender that grows in rocky dry climate of Provence). very long finish with soft tannin and acid nicely accenting the fruit. with air i actually detected a bit of hazelnut and then remembered that priorat was for a long time primarily known for hazelnut production! presumably still some hazelnut trees around and it's not impossible for the roots and leaves and thus fruit to pick up some of the hazelnut chemicals (which is why some Calif cabernets have eucalyptus overtones). This will be good till 2015 or so. I don't think the acid/tannin components are up to maintaining the wine much beyond. A few days later after being in refrig, the wine was ok for a few minutes but soured in the glass.

mas doix also makes a wine Mas Doix Doix Costers de Vinas Viejas (old vines) which is $100-120. This Salanques is about $40. The more expensive one I'e had once and it was sublime, right up there with the best wine i've ever had. i have a couple bottles of the expensive one and a couple of this Salanques left, I think in 2004 vintage, so next time, i'll do a comparative tasting.

Parker tasted in 2007, 94 points:

The 2004 Salanques is the second wine of Mas Doix made from barrels not making the cut for Costers de Vinas Viejas. It is 65% Garnacha, 20% Carinena, and equal parts Syrah, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon aged 14 months in French oak. Inky purple, the wine has a lovely perfume of mineral, truffle, pencil lead, kirsch, black currant, and blueberry. Ripe and full-bodied, the wine has a velvety texture, superb depth, and gobs of flavor. Drink this pleasure-packed wine over the next 8-10 years.

Wine Spectator gave this 87 points and is just totally off the mark. In general I find them giving lower scores than Parker, which is OK, but they also miss the mark seriously about 1/6 of the time, roughly. may be a product of their group tasting method or just that Parker is better and also formed my own wine aesthetic since he was my first guru starting in 1981. Spectator:

Candied cherry and light herbal flavors are expressive, though slightly rustic, in this firm red. The crisp acidity provides a sweet-and-sour profile. Lively. Best from 2008 through 2012. 1,900 cases imported

Note from RME: It is NOT sweet and sour unless you think all wine merits that description, and it's certainly not rustic.