2007 Viñedos de Ithaca "Akyles" Priorat

What a breath of fresh air in Priorat! Smoky dark berry fruit on the nose leads to a fresh, bright, palate, portraying a lightness of touch seldom seen in such a warm climate growing region. Viñedos de Ithaca is arguably making the most food friendly, enjoyable, easy to drink, finessed wines in all of Priorat. Relative to the regions' huge, intensely flavored and extracted wines, this may not be saying much, but to taste any of these wines is such a pleasurable experience, as well as an object lesson in how to make beautiful, graceful wines in a warm climate. Owner Joseph Puig is Priorat's renaissance man. At Viñedos de Ithaca, he is up to something truly unique in the warm, steep, slate terraces of Priorat, growing a diverse variety of grapes which include typical varieties (Garnacha, Cariñena, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon) as well as some more unusual ones (Touriga Nacional, Garnatxa Blanca, Pedro Ximenez). Puig's daughter Sylvia makes the wine, and like her other efforts it is an exuberant, fresh and fruit-driven beauty.

I find most Priorat wines to be a tad overwhelming with monolithic fruit and always out of reach price wise. The Akyles is by far once of the most balanced and yielding wines from this appellation with flavors of blackberries, loam, asian spices and a touch of smoke. This is also a Priorat that is within the reach of the common man like myself. As good as most at twice or three times the price.

Priorats can be quite extracted and intense, and overwhelming to the palate. Which is why I appreciate a wine like the Akyles, which offers a different, more easy-going interpretation of Priorat. It is as though its saying, "yeah, I could have been one of those guys, but I'm not. I'm better because you can actually drink me." Full-bodied and concentrated on the palate, showing baked black and blue fruit flavors and a little oak spice, with sturdy tannins and acidity, this wine remains balanced and accessible and can be enjoyed now.

Listen, you hoople heads, this wine rocks for the price. Amazing fruit, up front, and incredible depth on the palate. The finish is long, albeit dry. Extraordinary, and complex wine for the $$$$. Like it.

Concentrated, fruity flavor with some dried strawberry and enough tannins and acidity to give it a good balance. Unusually pretty dark red color.

This was my first Priorat, Full bodied a bit short with lots of cherry and spice flavors. This is a great priorat,however i did find the cherry flavor to be a bit more than i would have liked.