The UnCorker

Vall Llach Embruix Priorat 2003

December 30, 2008 | In WINE REVIEWS | No Comments

Restaurant Ubeda in Barcelona is not packed, but there are only two staff.. and they are making cocktails (for some reason gin and tonics are a renown choice here), pulling draft beers, bussing dishes, plating food.. and even cooking the food. Our Spanish is terrible – it seems like they are asking us to leave… ‘we’re closing’ the gesturing seems to say as we grab an empty table, “you must leave.” But we soon learn that what they really were saying is, “it will be a while until we can get to you…. how about a shockingly affordable-for-how-delicious it is bottle of wine while you wait?”

That’s when we discovered the Vall Llach Embruix Priorat, the “undiscovered gem” from the Priorat region. Undiscovered? No. Sold out? Likely. Mostly grenache and cabernet, this is an another affordable back door into priorat. “Bewitching” blackberries and mature red fruit on the nose, with a brambly minerality and enough acidity to get us through the pau amb tomate and iberian ham that eventually arrives at the table. The vineyard is owned by popular Catalan singer Lluis Llach, who is apparently a great wine lover. This wine alone was enough to justify a $9.99 iTunes download of his “Les Seves Primeres Cancons.” Try the two together, on some soggy winter day, and smell the Costa Brava.