2020 Espectacle del Montsant

The Top Wine of Rene and Christian Barbier (including the maker of the famous Clos de Mogador and Manyetes). Just outside the Priorat, this giant is made from 120 year old Grenache grapes located in La Figuera on the northern edge of the Montsant DO. An intense wine in color and taste. Decant and give it some air, but then ....... the powerhouse emerges: ripe fruit, floral notes such as roses, violets. Soft and fresh, complex, long aftertaste. So beautiful! A maximum of around 5500 bottles are made of the Espectacle. The absolutely Top but range of the Espectacle is very limited and these are distributed all over the world. Only the most beautiful fruit, the most beautiful (and most expensive) oak is used for this wine and the production method is only aimed at quality, with a selection taking place down to the level of the grape (the berry). It is not surprising that this wine always receives between 96 and 100 Parker points.

The vineyard is located at an altitude of about 800 meters in the form of an amphitheater with stone terraces. Biodiversity is the magic word here: in addition to grape plants, you will find fruit trees, olive trees and local indigenous shrubs here. The grape plants, some of which are eighty to a hundred years old, grow on a slate substrate. Slate is a poor and hard soil condition whose main property is that it generates high acidity in the grapes. The location of the vineyard on slopes in a northeasterly direction towards the sea ensures that the nights are very fresh. Because the temperature in the summer at that place is usually thirty degrees Celsius during the day, this means that there are large temperature differences. This causes dyes and tannins to accumulate in large quantities in the grape skins and that is a sign of quality. The grapes are grown biodynamically, so with attention and respect for the plant and the natural conditions, and all work on the land is carried out by hand.

The grapes are picked manually and multiple runs are made to pick and only the grapes that have the optimal phenolic ripeness are harvested. After picking, the grapes are cooled for over 24 hours at a temperature of 4ºC and then the 2nd selection takes place and only the very best bunches move on to the next step. The grapes are then destemmed and then a selection takes place again at berry level and only unsuitable grapes (too ripe, too green, etc.) are removed. What remains of this strict selection process is now very lightly crushed and starts its fermentation in very refined French oak (QUERCUS PETRAEA) and the must is stirred and pumped several times a day to get the optimal extraction. This maceration process takes no less than 5 weeks, after which the wine is allowed to mature further on French oak of the finest kind (Barbier opts for very fine-meshed oak - quercus petrea oak) which are the most expensive barrels available) and then the wine matures around the 16 months on this beautiful elegant oak. After this, the bottles are bottle aged for around 8-12 months before the wine is released.

FACT: In the Tab: Appendix you will find the official fact sheet of this fine wine. We will automatically send it to you when you order this wine