Cal Batllet Gratallops 5 Partides Priorat 2014

Marc Ripoll returned to his family vineyards to change their fortunes. The family had been reduced to selling their harvests to the local co-operative, but he set about renovating the dilapidated winery and now Cal Batllet is regarded as one of the leading estates from their village of Gratallops.

Marc is part of the new generation of winemakers in Priorat who are reclaiming the region for their own. Focusing on a style that puts the local terroir as its heart and looking to create wines of elegance and refinement, light years away from what made Priorat the darling of the American critics. An organic approach in the vineyard and use of wild yeast and barrel fermentation all come together to create wines expressive of the individual sites they come from. The 90 year old bush vines planted in steep hillsides on slate soil all create personalities of their own, none more so than the nearly extinct Escanyavella grape which produces a wine full of sublime texture and fruit.

This terroir-driven wine faithfully represents the soils of Gratallops, giving a wine that is mineral-based, complex, ripe, elegant and soft with a long finish. A superb terroir drivenwine, with volume but with excellent fruit balance.