Familia Torres Salmos 2021

Familia Torres Salmos is a Priorat red built on Garnacha, Cariñena and Syrah, grown on the steep terraced slopes that define this small Catalan appellation. The defining feature of Priorat is its soil, the brown and black slate known as llicorella, which forces the roots deep in search of water and lends the wines their characteristic dark fruit and mineral, almost stony grip. The low yielding old vines and the wide swing between hot days and cool nights concentrate the fruit and hold its freshness. After harvest the wine undergoes a long maceration of around 25 days, extracting deep colour and firm phenolics from the skins, followed by fifteen months in French oak, where slow oxygen exchange refines the tannins and adds smoke and spice. The result is a deeply coloured red with a nose of ripe plum and dark berries over black pepper, liquorice and a smoky minerality, and a full bodied, structured palate with firm but ripe tannins and a long, savoury finish. This is a wine with the frame to age. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees, decanted well ahead, alongside roast lamb or game.