2018 Portal del Priorat Gotes Blanques

White priorat wines are great but often very pricey. This Gotes Blanques from Portal del Priorat is an affordable class white wine. The Gotes Blanques is a pure Garnacha Blanca from vineyards located in the village of La Morera de Montsant at about 600 meters altitude. It is fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts and kept in the barrel until bottling on its own lees. It has aromas of dry straw, fresh fruit flowers and the typical minerally somewhat smoky notes. On the palate, the white garnacha is full-bodied, slightly rmog with moderate acidity. A very pleasant wine of which only around 5000 bottles are produced annually.

The wines are biodynamically produced.

ABOUT PORTAL DEL PRIORAT

Alfredo Arribas (an established and well-known architect from Barcelona) bought Mas del Portal in 2001. The brilliant project took a major step forward when Ricard Rofes joined the program. Ricard was formerly the winemaker at the co-operative of El Masroig for nine years, where he made Les Sortes a brand of international recognition. Ricard knows the Priorat and Montsant areas very well, especially the small landowners, who have vineyards, some of which are 150 years old. Ricard's contribution is an enrichment, he has a vast knowledge of the area and makes the finest possible Carinena (Carignan). The vineyards are rough with steep slopes, damaged vines are replaced by young vines and only self-fertilization is used without pesticides or other chemicals. They work completely organically.

ROBERT PARKER (Jay Miller): There are no role models of longevity for these massive Priorats as there are in Bordeaux or Rioja so my timeline involves speculation and extrapolation based on experience and the precision balance that this wine is revealing now.