The cloudy and characterful white 2021 Gratallops Partida Bellvisos Blanc has the advantage of the much cooler year. It has a reductive quality (similar to the Cartoixa from Venus), kind of flinty/smoky toasted sesame seeds. It's a blend of white grapes, mostly Garnacha Blanca, fermented from the direct pressing of the bunches, fermented and matured in large neutral barrels. It opens up in the glass to notes of wild herbs and flowers, again with an absence of fruit, and comes in at 13.5% alcohol, with a medium-bodied palate, svelte and handsome, with light and inner energy. It has great complexity, and with time, it unfurls waves of new aromas, blue cheese, dried yellow flowers, pollen and wet stones. It's a truly world-class Mediterranean white.
I tasted a variety of vintages from the personal project of Sara Pérez and René Barbier, as some wines are kept and released later, mostly the ones produced with Cariñena. The white 2021 was the highlight of the tasting. The wines have been produced at Clos Mogador, a kind of experimentation field for René. René was on a three-week tour in the US, meeting customers that were all really worried because of the threat of a 200% tariff on wines from Europe...
Published: May 01, 2025