Mas Sinen Negre Priorat is made from 38% Garnacha, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Carinena, 16% Syrah
Aged in 90% French, 10% American oak barrels for 12 months.
Maceration for 21 days. ML in stainless steel tanks.
Clarification with white egg and soft filtration.
The wine shows great spice and leather components, some minerality and a lot of ripe red fruits aromas as well.
This wine is certified organic.
Review:
"Dark, bright-rimmed ruby. Highly perfumed, mineral- and smoke-accented red and dark fruit preserve, baking spice and floral pastille aromas, along with hints of licorice and black tea. Gently chewy and focused on the palate, offering juicy cherry, blackberry and spicecake flavors that deepen and turn spicier as the wine opens up. Finishes impressively long and sappy, with a lingering floral nuance, well-integrated tannins and a jolt of smoky minerality. Raised in new and used barrels, 90% French and 10% American.- Josh Raynolds"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (March 2021), 93 pts
Mas Sinen Negre Priorat is made from 38% Garnacha, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Carinena, 16% Syrah
Aged in 90% French, 10% American oak barrels for 12 months.
Maceration for 21 days. ML in stainless steel tanks.
Clarification with white egg and soft filtration.
The wine shows great spice and leather components, some minerality and a lot of ripe red fruits aromas as well.
This wine is certified organic.
Review:
"This is a super ripe and fleshy ball of rich dark berries and plums with a super rich, long and fluid texture. Such length and depth of blackberry fruit here. Drink now."
- James Suckling (July 2019), 91 pts
Mas Sinen Clos Priorat is made from 38% Garnacha, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Carinena, 16% Syrah.
Before the 2017 vintage, this wine was called Negre. It is the same vinification and level of excellence as the prior cuvee, but with a different name.
It's quite ripe, concentrated, powerful and oaky with black rather than red fruit and peat and graphite aromas. The palate is full-bodied with plenty of rough-hewn tannins and moderate acidity, and is in need of bottle age and/or powerful food. An XXL Priorat.
Mas Sinen La Vall Priorat is made from 57% Garnacha, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cariñena (Carignan), 9% Syrah.
This wine has a highly intense, lively vermilion red color, complex yet direct aromas with predominant ripe black and red fruits, notes of minerals and forest herbs. Flavors are strong, full and layered with round, fresh and delicate tannins.
Pairs with meat, sausage, cheese.
Burgo Viejo Rioja Gran Reserva is made from 100 percent Tempranillo. 30 year old vines.
Burgo Viejo Gran Reserva shows a deep red ruby color and offers powerful aromas of blackberry jam, spice, leather, chocolate with toasty nuances. Smooth yet full-bodied with firm tannins and a long finish.
Review:
"Shimmering garnet. Aromas of cherry, blueberry, candied flowers, tobacco and coconut pick up a smoky overtone with air. Smooth and fleshy on the palate, offering ripe red and blue fruit, mocha, cola and spicecake qualities that tighten up on the back half. Finishes long and supple with repeating spiciness, even tannins and a lingering suggestion of red berry preserves. This old-school Rioja was aged for two years in 90% American and 10% French oak. - Josh Raynolds"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (April 2021), 92 pts
2010 Burgo Viejo Rioja Gran Reserva - Silver Medal - MUNDUS VINI
Mas Olivier Faugeres Rouge Expression is made from 70% Syrah, 20% Grenache and 10% Mourvedre.
Dark color with a deep purple hue. Intense nose with ripe red berries notes which reveals after breathing herbal notes of pepper, incense, cardamom and chili. It is a well-structured wine with powerful and fine tannins.
The wine is produced from a unique plot nested in hilltops, at 400 meters above sea level on rich schist soils. The grapes are selected with love and great care (optimum maturity checks and berry tasting before the hand harvest). Each variety is harvested separately on different dates to ensure the best quality and the perfect homogeneous blend “expression” of the AOP Faugères terroir.
Pair with roasted rib of beef with porcini mushrooms. Game dishes with candied turnips, cheese.
Mas Sinen Negre Priorat 2009 is made from 35% Garnacha, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Carinena, 10% Syrah
Aged in 90% French, 10% American oak barrels for 12 months.
Maceration for 21 days. ML in stainless steel tanks.
Clarification with white egg and soft filtration.
The wine shows great spice and leather components, some minerality and a lot of ripe red fruits aromas as well.
This wine is certified organic.
Review:
"(made from a blend of garnacha, mazuelo, cabernet sauvignon and syrah): Inky purple. Powerful aromas of candied dark fruits, licorice, violet, vanilla and cola. Coats the palate with deep blackberry and bitter cherry flavors, with juicy acidity adding lift. At once rich and energetic, finishing with excellent clarity, smooth tannins and lingering sweetness. This fruit is certified agricultura ecologica, so full-on hippie.- Josh Raynolds"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (September 2014), 92 pts
The Mas Sinen Estate
Mas Sinen is located in the village of Poboleda, in the province of Tarragona. The winery dates back to the 19th century and has been in the family for a few generations. Mas Sinen is a beautiful estate made of stone and surrounded by the family vineyards. Today, Salvador Burgos and his wife Conxita Porta, together with their two daughters, continue the family tradition using the most modern technologies to produce high quality wine from the Priorat Denomination of Origin.
The ancient Mountainous region of Priorat incorporates nine villages of wine production. They are:
- Gratallops
- Bellmunt del Priorat
- Torroja del Priorat
- Poboleda
- Porrera
- La Morera de Montsant
- Escaladei
- La Vilella Alta
- La Vilella Baixa
- El Llorar
- El Molar
The vineyards measure 1.662,55 hectares on size or 4,106.50 acres.
Priorat is about vines per hectare and not about hectares, because the yields are so low.
The name Priorat comes from the word Priory and refers to the 12th century Carthusian Priory established in the region
The old vines in the Priorat region are almost entirely Garnacha and Carignane.
Soil type: local schist called llicorella (decomposing soil type).
Prior to 1979 very few wineries were in production and the area was becoming depopulated. The interest and revolution in Priorat was created by five wineries whose names all began with the word Clos.
1. Clos Mogador - Rene Barber - the modern day pioneer of the region
2. Clos Martinet
3. Clos de L'OBAC
4. Clos Erasmus
5. Clos Dofi - famous winemaker, Rock star and self prom Alvaro Palacios
Today many new small producers with less than 3,000 cases in production are emerging from this area.
Prices for the wines are high and Priorat along with Rioja are the two regions entitled to the highest quality designation by D.O. law: Denominacion de Origen Calificada or DOQ
Today there are 73 wineries in Priorato with new ones coming all the time.
Wines are designed to age for 10-20 years. The styles vary, but Priorat reds are normally dark colored, muscular, tannic, ripe, rich in alcohol in nature Think Chateauneuf-du-Pape from Spain with a Spanish twist.
The Mas Sinen Vineyards
The vineyards measure 15 hectares total. They are planted in terraces, in the slopes of the "Mas Sinen" mountain and are situated 300-500 meters above sea level, cultivated under organic methods. The vines are 5 to 50 years old planted to local schist called llicorella (decomposing soil type) which is typical of the Priorat region.
Kershaw Chardonnay Deconstructed Lake District Bokkeveld Shale CY95 is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
The inspiration for this Chardonnay stems from my belief that the Elgin region has both a signature grape as well as particular terroirs within its demarcated boundary that reflect regional credentials. This Chardonnay was selected from a sub-region of Elgin from a specific vineyard and an individual clone.
Tasting Notes: Sourced from a parcel in the Western part of Elgin the 95 clone is known for its excellent quality creating wines that are aromatic, fuller bodied and rich yet tightly structured, well–balanced with length of flavor, managing to show restraint and mouth-watering passivity with a great line through the palate and fruit veering towards white peach flesh and nectarine. On Bokkeveld Shales it brings amplified perfume on the nose and persistence and elegance to the palate.
Winemaking:
Grapes were hand-picked in the early autumnal mornings, placed into small lug baskets and tipped directly into a press before being gently whole-bunch pressed up to a maximum of 0.6 bar or until a low juice recovery of 580 liters per ton was obtained. The juice gravity-flowed directly to barrel (no pumps were used at all) without settling. The unclarified juice had no enzymes or yeast added to it and therefore underwent spontaneous fermentation until dry, with malolactic discouraged. The wine rested in barrel for 4 months prior to judicious sulfuring and a further 7 months’ maturation in barrel before racking and bottling.
Review:
"Minerals and a hint of flint on the nose. The expressive minerality of this wine also shows on the palate with complementary light stone fruit notes. Aged in 50% new 228L oak aging for 11 months."
- International Wine Review (Richard Kershaw Lifts Elgin To New Heights, February 2019), 95 pts
Cellier du Chateau de la Chaume Petit Chablis is made from 100 percent Chablis.
Color: Pale yellow
Bouquet: White flowers, honeysuckle, linden tree and dried fruits.
Palate: Very pleasant, balanced with tension and nice minerality
Drink as an Aperitif or pair with fish, shellfish.