The oldest of the three years I tasted side by side of the centenary Cari?ena, the 2013 1902 Centenary Carignan is from a great vintage that has produced many of Priorat's greatest wines to date. It was a cooler year with more rain than usual and a late, very balanced harvest. The grapes come exclusively from vines planted in 1902 (after phylloxera) on slate slopes, called costers; the grapes were hand harvested two weeks later than average and then destemmed and selected in the winery where it fermented in stainless steel with neutral yeasts. It matured in new French barrique for 16 months. I was instantly seduced by the expressive nose, denoting great freshness and depth, with notes of beef blood and iron; it's wide and long, concentrated but nicely balanced in a powerful way, showing huge personality and Priorat character. It seems to have all the ingredients for a very long development in bottle to become a legendary Cari?ena, but the fast evolution once the bottle was opened made me hesitate a bit. 980 numbered bottles were filled in April 2015.
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