2021 Espectacle Espectacle del Montsant, Catalunya

The 2021 Espectacle del Montsant has a bright ruby color and a very perfumed and elegant nose with no signs of excess ripeness, with 14.5% alcohol. As 2021 was a much cooler year, the wine is more elegant than ever (following the cooler years like 2014), textured and with very fine tannins. It has an intoxicating nose of red fruit and blood orange, violets and a spicy twist with pungent flavors and a finish that is dominated by violet pastille and is pungent, intense, clean and very long. It's multi-layered, precise, nuanced and ever-changing in the glass. It has to be one of the most elegant and finest vintages of Espectacle, with the natural freshness from the year. Bravo! There are some 7,500 bottles of this elixir.

99 points Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate

Espectacle del Montsant is one of Catalunya’s great Grenache stories. The project was created by René Barbier, Christopher Cannan, Fernando Zamora and a small group of friends who became captivated by an extraordinary old vineyard near La Figuera, high in the Montsant hills. Rather than building a range around it, they created a single wine from a single site, with the first vintage appearing in 2004. It has since become a highly sought after expression of Garnatxa from the region.

The vineyard sits at around 600 metres, where very old Garnatxa vines grow on poor limestone and clay soils. Altitude is crucial, tempering Catalunya’s sunshine with cooler nights and helping preserve fragrance and acidity. Yields are tiny and the fruit remarkably concentrated, yet Espectacle is not simply about power. The 2021 vintage has depth and ripeness, but the vineyard’s elevation gives the wine freshness, perfume and an almost weightless quality despite its intensity.

Deep ruby crimson, with wild raspberry, Morello cherry and ripe strawberry flowing into violet and dried rose. Blood orange, fennel seed and liquorice follow, joined by wild thyme, cracked pepper and a faint smoky mineral note. The palate is expansive and silky, with beautifully ripe red fruit, fine grained tannins and fresh acidity keeping the richness under control. Cherry, orange peel, anise and warm stone linger through an impressively long, savoury finish.

Charred octopus with romesco would be sensational, alongside lamb shoulder with rosemary, smoky eggplant with tomato and almonds, duck with blood orange or grilled mushrooms with garlic and Manchego. Our pick is the octopus, with enough smoky paprika and roasted pepper in the romesco to meet the Garnatxa head on.

Cellaring: Drink from 2027 to 2045+.