2009 Dosterras Vespres (Montsant)

At Jaleo, dinner with my good friend and first cousin, Mark Entman, up from Houstonin DC for NIH meetings. Ordered this wine after some quick research and glad I did. It is grenache with carignan, and very nicely blended it is. Delicious sweet black cherry with vanilla, pine forest, maybe blackberry, and smoke and spice. Very soft tannin and just right acid to balance the big fruit. Dark in color and, unlike a couple of other recent highly touted wines tasted from the Priorat (Montsant adjoins Priorat)it doesn't taste disjointed and vague to my palate. True, the aromas were somewhat restrained and lacked some complexity; as a general rule Montsant doesn't reach the heights that Priorats can reach. But it's less expensive and prestigious yet pretty damn similar in climate and (I believe) soil, so a good place to look for excellent fruit-driven wines in the Priorat mode. I'm not sure this one will get much better, and think it'll be pretty good drinking, perhaps with some more complexity on the nose developing, over the next 5-7 years. 92 points. $28.

Wine Advocate says: The 2009 Vespres is a blend of Garnacha and Carinena with a bouquet of liquid minerality and confiture of black fruits. Dense, sweet, and incipiently complex, it will reward another 2-3 years of cellaring and offer a drinking window extending through 2024. 92 points.

IWC Tanzer says: Deep violet color.  Exotically perfumed scents of red and dark berries, incense, lavender and smoky minerals.  Bright, tightly focused cherry and dark berry flavors are lifted by a zesty mineral quality and gain spiciness with air.  Leaves licorice and floral pastille notes behind on the long, fruit-driven finish.  This drinks very well now, with some decanting. 91 points.

Saved half bottle and having it 24 hours later right now. It's excellent still, with more nuance and openness in the nose--not just black cherry and blackberry but tea and spice. This doesn't equal the greatest De Lisio or D'Arenberg or Clarendon Hills fruit bomb grenaches from Australia but it's as good as many Priorats, in fact better than the "Black Slate" that Parker hyped with 94 points. I give this 92.

Parker gives it 92 also; IWC gives it 91. It's about $20-30. Worthwhile for $20.