Negre de Negres 2022

A Priorat where freshness and elegance take precedence over opulence and oak: straightforward, unadorned in the best sense, with a character all its own. 14.0% vol., dry.

In 2001, Alfredo Arribas bought land in the south of Priorat, near the villages of El Lloar and Bellmunt, and found fallow terraces planted with ungrafted vines. Phylloxera had spared them because the black Llicorella slate was too sparse and too steep. The Clos del Portal estate covers a good fifty hectares, stretching from the Siurana valley towards the Montsant mountains. About half is planted with vines, the rest with olives, almonds and Mediterranean woodland. The vines used for this wine are 20 to 65 years old.

Grenache leads the blend and brings the aromatics, Carignan the structure, with Cabernet Sauvignon rounding it out. Arribas limits the yield to around one kilogram of grapes per vine. Cellar master Juan Asens ferments spontaneously with wild yeasts in steel tanks, macerates briefly, uses minimal sulphur and forgoes new barriques. The wine then ages for 15 months in large oak vats and barrels.

In the glass, a transparent cherry red. The nose stays clear and precise, with red fruit and pronounced minerality. On the palate, silky and multi-layered, with fine tannins and plenty of grip, alongside delicate spice and mineral notes. The finish feels slightly saline and invigorating.

Arribas trained as an architect, designing bars and hotels in Barcelona; he learned to harvest grapes as a child at his grandfather's estate, a winegrower in the Ribera del Duero. He farms his vineyards organically, moving towards biodynamic practices.