Alvaro Palacios L'Ermita 1998 (5L)

Type: Red Wine      Volume: 5000ml

Winery: Alvaro Palacios L'Ermita

Country: Spain     Region: Catalonia

District: Priorat

Grapes Varieties: Grenache

Classification:      Production: 

Alcohol:      Packing: 

Ratings and Tasting Notes:

WA=97 The blockbuster, opaque purple-colored 1998 L'Ermita (the finest since the 1995 and 1994) exhibits a full-bodied personality with copious quantities of sweet oak, a boatload of glycerin, and superb blackberry, cassis, and cherry fruit that explodes on the mid-palate and in the finish. The elevated quantities of new oak should become better integrated as the wine ages over the next 15-20 years. This is an exceptionally impressive/expressive wine.

AG=96+ Full deep ruby. Great brooding nose of black and red fruit liqueur, spices and flowers. Like liquid velvet in the mouth, but with bracing acids giving it a threedimensional texture. A wine of uncanny chewy depth. Firmly structured and youthfully unevolved, but already quite explosive on the back half. Finishes with major dusty-but-ripe tannins and extraordinary persistence. Late hints of cassis and shoe polish. A great vintage for this wine, in need of at least five or six years of additional bottle aging.

WS=93 Plush on the midpalate yet firm on the finish, this concentrated Spanish red delivers plenty of ripe fruit and toasty oak, balanced and rich. International style in its texture and polish, yet the flavors are distinctive and typical for the region. Best after 2003.