2012 Clos Pissarra 'Clos d'Oc' Priorat
This half-acre vineyard is planted mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon, a rarity in the region, and produces very few cases of each vintage. Even at only 25%, the Grenache dominates on the nose. The palate, however, screams Cabernet Sauvignon all the way. Ripe red berries steep in the earthy richness and weight of olives, mushrooms and soil.
They didn’t know it, but a summertime wine-soaked lunch would prove far more expensive than they ever bargained for. Master sommelier Emmanuel Kemiji and his friends Chefs Gerald Hirigoyen [Piperade, SF], Sylvain Portay [Ritz-Carlton, SF] and Laurent Manrique [Aqua, SF] emerged from an innocent lunch one day in 2003 with the crazy idea to buy a vineyard in Spain’s Priorat and start a winery. Clos Pissarra was born soon thereafter, and in 2005 additional partners climbed aboard to acquire even more ancient vines in this hot, foreboding corner of Catalonian Spain. These are wines of gorgeous freshness, balance, and perfume—not roasted, heavy, or oxidized.