Alvaro Palacios Finca Dofi 2020

“The single-vineyard 2020 Finca Dofí comes from the 14 hectares of vines planted across three parajes (lieu-dits) in Gratallops, a blend of 83% Garnacha, 12% Cariñena, 4% Picapoll—a grape with low sugar and high acidity (good for climate change) that he regrafted some four years ago—and 1% white grapes: Garnacha Blanca and Macabeo, all fermented in oak vats with 10% full clusters and indigenous yeasts and matured in large oak barrels (bocoyes and foudres) for 15 months. It has good ripeness, 14.5% alcohol and a soft texture with nice balance, good freshness and fine tannins. 18,778 bottles and some other larger and smaller formats produced. It was bottled in May 2022. Drink: 2023-2030. 96 points

I tasted the bottled 2020s and barrel samples of the 2021s as part of Álvaro Palacios’s portfolio tasting earlier this year, but I am including those notes here for context and completeness of the article.

2020 was an atypical year, with spring rains like never before (674 liters). There was mildew in Priorat, quite unusual, and they lost a lot of Cariñena; the wines have lots of power and concentration and are opulent; and they harvested a lot earlier (l’Ermita was harvested the 25th of September!). 2021 was also dry, with limited vigor and with a cool summer and a rainy harvest; the grapes struggled to ripen, with the 2021 l’Ermita having lower alcohol than ever. Palacios was ecstatic about the 2021s, which he called “a year of concentration and class.”“

Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate (09/22)