Negre de Negres 2021

Negre de Negres is essentially a Garnacha wine, a Mediterranean Garnacha, but also a harmonious fusion of different varieties: Garnachas mainly (50%), Cariñena (30%), Syrah (20%) and Cabernet Franc (hence its name, a 'red of reds'), which bears the unmistakable signature of Alfredo Arribas: quality, serenity and balance. In the making of Negre de Negres, the clusters chosen are those which ripen earliest, on the Clos del Portal estate, reserving for Somni, another of the bodega's wines, the grapes with most concentration. Vinification is carried out just as Alfredo likes, with a short maceration, little extraction and a respectful ageing. The result is to be found in the glass: a harmonious and rounded wine, with immense freshness, which makes for an extremely pleasant and easily-imbibed drink. Aromatically, this is a complex, open and honest wine. Right at the start, it seduces with a concealed sweetness and some very juicy aromas of ripe, almost jammy, red and black fruits, but soon overall more citrusy notes take over (and more typical of the Garnacha), along with scents of plants like thyme, rosemary and lavender, and the distinctive Priorat minerality. On the palate it is silky and elegant, mature and meaty, balsamic (with those lavender, eucalyptus and rosemary notes ever more present on the palate), intense, powerful and with fruit so vivid you can almost chew it. A juice made of fruits which, with your eyes closed, will make you feel like you are strolling through the vineyards, breathing in the freshness of that Mediterranean countryside and feeling the warmth of that dry, harsh land. A big thank you, Alfredo.