CAPÇANES | Costers del Gravet | 2016
cabernet sauvignon | grenache | carignan

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Today we are going to review a wine that comes from one of Spain’s most trending wine-growing regions, Montsant – the twin of the mighty Priorat – Costers del Gravet 2016 by Celler Capçanes. This wine is a blend of 45% cabernet sauvignon, 35% garnatxa negra (the local name for grenache) and 20% samsó (the local name for carignan), where cabernet sauvignon forms the wine’s main body and structure, grenache adds more fruit extract, alcohol and a more juicy finish, while carignan delivers more complexity to the final blend and brings to the forefront those dehydrated red fruits notes that are characteristic to many Priorat and Montsant wines. The grapes for this wine are sourced from old vineyards in the Montsant region (from 15 to 110 years old vines), planted as bush vines on steep slopes and terraces, on black slate, limestone, clay and granite-rich soils (by the way, Costers del Gravet translates as ‘slopes of granite‘), that are protected from strong winds by the Serra de Llaberia mountain range. This particular vintage has been aged for 12 months in mixed french oak barrels, with light to medium toasting, with both, new and old oak used in order to preserve as much as possible the varietal characteristics of the two major Montsant grape varieties: garnacha and cariñena. That said and without further ado, let’s take a look at the wine tasting results.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
colour: deep garnet color
clarity: hazy garnet shades

//Olfactory
intensity: rich & earthy
fruit profile: red fruits | black fruits | dried fruits
__red fruits: redcurrant | cranberry | pomegranate skin
__black fruits: black cherry | black plum | blackberry
__dried fruits: dried black cherry | dried black plum
fruit character: ripe & dried

//Flavor
non fruit: spice | oak | savory | earth
__spice: red pepper | paprika
__oak: toasted oakwood | sun-dried oak | tobacco | cloves | oaktree bark | rooibos tea 
__savory: leather | brown olive
__earth: clay | marl | loam | granite | brick dust | brown soil
primary layer: oak & earth

//Palate
sweetness: dry
acidity: medium
alcohol: high
tannin: high
__grip: seedy
balance: good
__dominant: alcohol
body: grippy | full body

//Taste
fruit profile: red & black fruits
fruit character: overripe & dried
non fruit: spice/oak & earth
finish: medium
aftertaste: seedy

//Scoring
CAPÇANES | Costers del Gravet | 2016
variety: cabernet sauvignon | grenache | carignan
country: Spain
region: Catalonia | Priorat
rating: 93.1

//Conclusion
maturity: in its prime | drink now or age for 2 more years
verdict: great | a must try wine
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This is definitely a great wine of Spain and, with a total of 93.1 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Verdict: this is a firm, seedy and quite grippy wine blend that feels rich, complex and bold, with a nuanced fruity-earthy accent on the nose and a vibrant palate. The wine is right there, at the peak of its form, therefore we would recommend to drink it sooner rather than later, as we firmly believe that it is always better to drink a wine a year too soon than a day too late. On the nose the wine brings a mixture of ripe to dried red & black fruits with a pronounced earthy accent in the foreground, followed by a very nuanced, spicy-oaky background and a subtle, savory layer in between the two. On the palate the wine delivers flat acidity, seedy and grippy tannins and quite a touch of alcoholic warmth showing through on the mouthfeel, which leads to a quite appealing, bitter-seedy aftertaste. All in all, this is a well structured and nicely balanced wine blend that feels noble and mature, with some subtle hints of local terroir. We believe it will pair nicely with delicate meats, that are rich in natural umami flavour, like for example a classic fillet mignon steak. Cheers!

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