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This 10th edition of the wine festival Falset, Priorat reached, for me, its definitive international projection. More than just a festival, we encountered two very important and distinct facets that made up this year's "Fira del Vi." One side of this year’s “festival” was of the popular sort: open to the public, and with open-air stands on the hot high street of Falset. The other face of the festival was more professional, with organized tastings of select vintages for the trade and/or paying public only. One could consider it improbable that these two incongruous, yet dually important, facets of the wine industry could coexist at a small festival like that of Falset - where time and interest is targeted to two very different kinds of wine consumers - however this was fortunately not the case at this year’s “Fira del Vi.”

This year was one of increased international recognition and to cite just a few examples of the augmented internationalization of this year’s festival, we can begin with our first interview of the festival with Christopher Cannan (Europvin) of England and end with sharing a spot at the same table with the Californian Rob Mondavi (Folio Wine Group), during the "Tast del Deceni" (Tasting of the Decade).

Before we begin with the description of this tasting, however, we would like to proceed with providing the following seven links that contain audio interviews with several important vintners from the wine industry of Priorat held on Saturday, the 30th of April. To hear these interviews (sorry, in Spanish), simply click on the link below, which will then activate the voice recorder and allow you to listen to each of the interviews one at a time.

- Christopher Cannan (Clos Figueres and Laurona): mms://media.verema.com/230521/voice005.mp3

- Dominic Bairaguet (Clos Dominic): mms://media.verema.com/230521/voice006.mp3

- Josep Ángel Mestres (Celler Fuentes): mms://media.verema.com/230521/voice007.mp3

- René Barbier (Clos Mogador): mms://media.verema.com/230521/voice008.mp3

- Montse Nadal (UniversityRovira i Virgili and Lo Givot): mms://media.verema.com/230521/voice009.mp3

- Joan Asens (Álvaro Palacios): mms://media.verema.com/230521/voice010.mp3

- Salustiá Álvarez (President of the Council  DOQ Priorat and Vall Llach):  mms://media.verema.com/230521/voice011.mp3

The Enology school Jaume Ciurana of Falset was, once again, the location chosen for the now classic "Tasting of the Decade" (Tast del Deceni), which as the name suggests, provided its participants with the opportunity to taste the evolution of wines from the 1995 vintage from the most representative zones of Priorat. Although this tasting is always a highlight of the “Fira del Vi” in Falset, this year we were faced with tasting an especially complicated year: that of the 1995 vintage. I will get into the details of the tasting later, but for now I will just say that 1995 was officially classified by the "Consejo Regulador" as an "Excellent" vintage, similar to that of 1996 and better than the "Very Good" year of 1994. It was also a year with barely any rain, even for Priorat, with a rainfall of only 164 liters/m2 from January through October.

Sometime before the tasting began, various vintners had advised us that many wines from the 1995 vintage were, in general, very closed when they had recently been tasted by their respective producers. Of course during the "Tasting of the Decade" (Tast del Deceni) we had the opportunity to test this supposition, and indeed we found that the 90 minute window we provided the wines to decant with (typical for wines from this region), was not nearly enough. The only wine at the tasting which perhaps fit the criteria for proper aeration of such a closed vintage was that of Clos Erasmus, which was brought to the tasting by the winemaker Esther whom had personally opened the bottle some six hours earlier.

During this blind tasting, and apart from the eight Priorat wines which were available from the 1995 vintage (there were unfortunately no Montsant wines available), we also included one wild-card wine with similar characteristics from Chateauneuf-du-Pape called Chateau de la Gardine Cuveé Generations Gaston Philippe. This cuvée was exceptionally appropriate as it was also made from old vines, aged in new French oak barrels and produced primarily from grapes of the Garnacha variety (all from vines >70 years old), with a bit of Syrah and Monastrell mixed in as well. In addition to its technical similarity to Priorat wines of the 1995 vintage, Robert Parker also gave this wine a 92 for the 1997 vintage and mentioned that it was made in "an international style" which helped to change the image of the typical style of the appellation. In addition, Parker also mentioned in his tasting notes that aromatically, the wine could have even passed for a Medoc of the highest quality.

To carry on with the “Tast del Deceni,” the tasting was set up with nine Riedel Chianti glasses for each taster. We have to thank, yet again, Joan Asens (technical director of Alvaro Palacios) for his work in setting up this tasting; who interestingly, also told us directly before the tasting about an informative conference he had just attended by Claude Bourguignon, a French agricultural engineer and reputable soil scientist, in Falset. We also would like to take the time to praise Joan's unselfishness when he exhibited his characteristic generosity and gave up his seat at the tasting, after realizing that there were more attendees than seats available.

Out of all of the wines that were tasted, Gran Clos 1995 was the wine that was most liked by all; and indeed, after the hour and a half that all wines had been decanted, it was this wine that tasted in best form. (Gran Clos is wine by Cellers Fuentes, which comprises close to 32 hectares mostly planted with Garnacha del Pais, Garnacha peluda and Cariñena). On the opposite side of the spectrum was Finca Dofi, which was completely closed and finished in last position. (Only during our lunch which followed the tasting did what was left in the bottle of Finca Dofi begin to express its full olfactory potential).

In addition to the first and last finishings of the above mentioned producers, another interesting surprise during the tasting was that several of the attendees were convinced that one of their own, the 1995 from Clos Martinet, was the wild-card wine entered from outside the region instead of Chateau de la Gardine from Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Many of the tasters present (including those from reputable positions within the wine industry of Priorat) felt this wine was markedly different from the rest, and thus judged it to be the only wine from outside the area. This is most likely due to the fact that the 1995 Clos Martinet is composed of a generous quantity of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which is in contrast not only to the other wines present at the tasting (which comprised mostly of Garnacha and Cariñena), but also to most of the cuveés produced by Clos Martinet in later vintages.

In regards to the ranking of the wines: we asked each attendee to rank the wines using an ordinal system based upon which wine they liked the most. This ranking system was such that the best-liked wine received a 1 (or first place), the second best-liked wine received a 2 (second place) and so on, up to the last-place wine which was ranked number 9. In this manner, and when all of the rankings were added together, the wine with the lowest number of points was awarded the over-all ranking of first place by all of the professionals and wine advocates whom attended this year's "Taste of the Decade." The official results of each of the nine wines tasted is listed below:

1. Gran Clos, 1995 34 points

2. Clos Erasmus, 1995 54 points

3. Mas de Masos, 1995 67 points

4. L'Ermita, 1995 79 points

5. Château de la Gardine, 1995 80 points

6. Clos Mogador, 1995 81 points

7. Clos Martinet, 1995 89 points

8. Fra Fulco, 1995 89 points

9. Finca Dolfi, 1995 100 points

In retrospect, it remains clear to us that if these wines had been decanted earlier and allowed to breathe for a longer period of time, that the order in which these wines were ranked could have changed dramatically. Personally, the wine which I liked the most was that of Mas de Masos, which I found to have a magnificent nose of grand intensity. The name of this wine is a direct reference to the vineyard where the grapes are grown, which is owned by the winery Capafons-Ossó.

Also, as is typically the case, there existed some discrepancies and similarities in between certain groups of tasters which were present at the tasting. For example, those of us from Verema.com (Paco Higón and myself) globally preferred the 1995 from Clos Mogador (in second position for us both), and the four producers from Priorat present at the tasting collectively preferred Gran Clos first and then Clos Mogador.

It is important to remember, however, that this kind of ranking is, at best, relative to the person tasting the wines. The most notable take-home message from this tasting and something which was agreed upon by all, is that a few of the wines were very expressive for the time in which they were open (e.g. Gran Clos, Mas de Masos and Clos Erasmus), whereas others were not and really could have done with more time for better oxygenation (e.g. Finca Dofi, L'Ermita and Clos Mogador).

One final note is that the 1994 benchmark tasting which we conducted the year prior at the 9th annual "Fira del Vi," was one where the wines were more enjoyable to taste than those of the complex 1995 vintage. It is also probable that Priorat wines from 1995 will require another few years of bottle ageing before they will express their full potential and complexity. In any case, it was a gratifying tasting experience shared by all on that sunny Sunday morning on the outskirts of Falset, Priorat.