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2018 Clos Erasmus "Laurel" Priorat Product Zoom

2018 Clos Erasmus "Laurel" Priorat

SKU #1519140 96 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Outer quote mark The second wine here and one that is easier to drink, the 2018 Laurel was produced with fruit from the younger vines, a couple of barrels that are declassified from Clos Erasmus and the Cabernet Sauvignon, more or less 70% Garnacha and 15% each Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. It has good ripeness and still a pH of 3.3. It fermented mostly in oak vats and 2,000-liter concrete vats with indigenous yeasts and matured for 18 months in 20,000-liter oak and concrete vats, second use barriques and some clay amphorae. It's a bright translucent ruby color and has a perfumed and delicate nose with notes of orange peel and flowers; this is the most elegant and ethereal vintage of Laurel as far as I can remember, with red rather than black fruit and a kind of cranberry quality. The palate is medium-bodied, textured and fluid, with subtleness, balance and very fine tannins. The oak is perfectly integrated, and the wine is easy to drink, approachable and very pleasurable right now. It's a fresh vintage with energy and finesse, quite different from previous vintages. I love it. (LG) Inner quote mark (12/2020)

95 points Jeb Dunnuck

Outer quote mark The 2018 Laurel is a softer, more elegant wine compared to the 2017 and has beautiful blue fruits as well as lots of floral and spice nuances. Full-bodied, seamless, and incredibly charming, with silky tannins, it’s already impossible to resist yet unquestionably has a decade or more of prime drinking ahead of it. Inner quote mark (3/2021)


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Price: $54.99
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RP: 96
JD: 95

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Product Reviews:
By: Andrew Tobin | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 3/17/2021 | Send Email
I was told early in my career that wine tasting is about nostalgia. To really get good at recognizing aromas you need to let it take you back to a time and place where you find what you're looking for. Clos Erasmus has nailed that nostalgia factor in this wine. The nose brings me back to a forest just after the rain; wet earth notes are surrounded by fresh berries, rose petal, and dried bark-like spice. The palate is darker and more rustic. Savory soy, pepper, dried berries, and flower petals build for a brilliant wine that will age and get better for years to come!

By: Chris DePaoli | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 3/17/2021 | Send Email
One of my deserted island bottles, and I don't really have to think about it. This is the prettiest it's been in years, and the softness it shows this vintage makes for an incredibly drinkable wine—too drinkable maybe. That black slate of Priorat pierces through the alpine, berry crush opening, and the fresh herbal notes lace the border with a sweet edge, never veering towards medicinal. Intended to drink now and performs as intended. Always incredible.

By: Kirk Walker | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 3/17/2021 | Send Email
What a nose this wine has! From the start bright berries, crushed rocks, and herbs followed by gentle floral notes and very mellow spices. It smells like Priorat, it smells like happiness. As much as I love the nose, this wine shines on the palate. It hits with that big impact that you expect from Priorat, and then it elevates. It is rich and elegant. There is so much energy to the wine that it doesn't feel heavy. The fruit tones are brighter than the previous couple of vintages, but the profile darkens after a little decanting. Macerated fruits ,wild herbs, stones, and flowers on the finish, when you pick up a little game and tobacco spice. The tannins are fine and integrated, and the wine has a long, vibrant finish. The wine gets better the longer it's opened. The fruit tones darken and deepen, somehow the aromatics become more evocative, the palate becomes bigger and broader while it plays out on the finish, and that llicorella slate hums beneath it all. What a wine.

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