NV Ca Les Viudes

The NV Ca Les Viudes, ‘The House of the Widows’, must have been the place where the solera was found and is pictured on the label. It’s a rancio from the village of Porrera from a very old solera, over 100 years old. Everything about this wine is mindboggling. Starting with a deep, almost opaque mahogany color – imagine that this is produced with red grapes – and its bright amber-green border, followed by its complex, intense nose, reminiscent of a cask strength Port Ellen Islay malt whisky (and as expensive and rare), it has subtle earthy aromas of peat and smoke, old wood, a touch spirity and volatile, all relative, of course. The palate is both sour and sweet, with echoes of extra vecchio Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, pungent, with piercing acidity. The aftertaste is almost eternal, salty, telluric, mineral and really penetrating, given the high alcohol content. It keeps changing in the glass like a chameleon, developing lovely notes of rusticity, tree bark, wet slate, truffles, balsamic herbs and ripe Cuban cigars. I swear I could even smell flowers and heather at times. This is unusual, because rancio is usually dry, and this has some residual sugar, which helps balance the palate. I’m not sure if I should drink it or wear it as perfume in my handkerchief. You can smell it and transport yourself to the Priorat of 100 years ago. This is so decadent and complex, and up there in quality with the best sherries and other old dessert wines from Porto or Madeira. This is an imperfect wine that is really perfect, and more Priorat than the other two. It simply made my heart beat faster. Fifty half-liter bottles were filled with this elixir in 2001, and some can still be found on the market. Drink if you even have the chance to do so. Arrels del Priorat means ‘roots of Priorat’ in the Catalan language, and it’s the name chosen by Rene Barbier from Clos Mogador to sell his highly restricted releases of traditional, old rancio wines from Priorat. After a few years in the region, he became worried that the traditional rancio wines might disappear if nobody paid attention to them. Only the older generation appreciated them and these were getting smaller and smaller in number. So he decided to buy all he could and become the guardian of tradition. He offers these wines in homeopathic quantities. They are sold in 50 cl. bottles, and he might release a bunch of them from time to time to keep the average old-age of the wine. According to Barbier, he was told these wines never really stopped slowly fermenting and were not fortified, the alcohol level was achieved naturally through evaporation and it’s quite high. The older the higher. They are mostly dry, but some have a little residual sugar. Drinking dates are almost a joke with wines like these, as they should last forever. Even though they might not be easy to find, I felt I should include them in the report as they are truly exceptional, unique wines. I hope my comments bring attention to these exceptional wines. No known American importer, so prices are estimated.