Alvaro Palacios L’Ermita 2017

Lobenberg: Lobenberg: So jung und schon eine Legende: überbordende Frucht von Brombeeren, Cassis und Kirschen, eine Menge süße Tannine vom neuen Barrique und eine schier unglaubliche Struktur und Tiefe. Eine beeindruckende Persönlichkeit! Bei allem merkt man, dass dieser Weine trotz des warmen Klimas aus den kühlsten Lagen kommt. Ein Grenzgänger, der auf granitdurchzogenen Böden wächst und besonders spät gelesen wird. Kultwein wie Petrus und Masseto. Kein Wunder, denn Alvaro hat bei den renommiertesten Weingütern gelernt. Darunter auch Petrus. 100/100

Suckling: This is mesmerizing to smell with a bouquet of flowers that flow out of the glass, combined with black and blue fruit. Full body. Ultra fine tannins. Driven and vivid. It goes on for minutes. A great Spanish wine. Drink after 2022, but already superb. 98/100 (2019)

Parker: There is even more Cariñena in this warm vintage, and the varietal breakdown of the 2017 L'Ermita comes to a majority of Garnacha but with a notable 20% Cariñena and some 2% of white grapes. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in oak vats and matured in oak barrels of different sizes for 16 months. The grapes were picked on the 18th of October, which is extremely late considering that 2017 was their earliest harvest ever! It has a surprisingly high percentage of Cariñena, the highest ever for L'Ermita, yet the wine feels like the essence of a Mediterranean Garnacha—floral, expressive, open, insinuating, refined and elegant. It has great depth and refined tannins and feels light on its feet, yet it's full of inner power, intense and persistent. It's detailed, nuanced, clean, transparent, focused and pure. The flavors are very precise and clean and the aftertaste extremely long. A truly great L'Ermita, again, transcending the conditions of the vintage. They got 15.2 hectoliters per hectare. 2,900 bottles were filled in May 2019. This will be the first wine to carry the new Priorat classification Gran Viña Clasificada, the equivalent of a Grand Cru in Burgundy. 98/100 (2019)