OT: Camins del Priorat 2010

Camins del Priorat is the youngest wine by Alvaro Palacios ​​in Priorat. It is made of grapes from different very small vineyards grown on slate soils on the typical steep slopes of the different municipalities of the region (Gratallops, Porrera, Torroja, Les Vilelles, El Molar, Poboleda, etc.). Each vineyard has different characteristics that provide many different nuances to the wine. This Priorat wine combines the elaboration in stainless steel, cement and wooden vats. The malolactic fermentation takes place in wooden vats. It is aged for 8 months in French oak vats and barrels. A wine with a great value for price, perfect to discover the essence of the lands of Priorat. (Source: Decántalo)

Winery: Alvaro Palacios, S. L. Polígon 6, Parcela 26. Gratallops (Tarragona)

Phone: + 34 977 83 91 95

Winemaker: Álvaro Palacios & Oriol Castells 

Website: n/a

Brand: Camins del Priorat Production: 190,000 bottles

DOQ/DOCa: Priorat

Type: Young Red wine with 14.5 % alcohol content. Aged 8 months in French oak barrels

Grapes Variety: A blend of 35% Garnacha (Grenache), 35% Samsó (Carignan), 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Syrah

Vineyards: The vines, between 10 and 40 years-old, are on steep slopes and terraces with different exposures, located between 350 and 600 meters above sea level.

Soil: Llicorella, a free-draining, nutrient-poor soil made up of partially-decomposed slate and quartz (‘llicorella’ is the Catalan name for slate).

Bottle Size: 75.0cl.

Price: Camins del Priorat 2013 (40% Garnacha, 20% Samsó, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah y 10% Merlot) is available at Bodegas Santa Cecilia at € 14,40.

My wine rating: I’ve still to taste Camins del Priorat 2013, but this 2010 is quite superb for a relatively inexpensive red Priorat. 95/100.

Read more about Priorat wines at wine-searcher 

Álvaro Palacios came to the Priorat, to the town of Gratallops to be precise, following the lead of a group of local producers fully intending to pass on through their wines all the character of this land, full of its own brightness, with the shining Mediterranean sun, the gleaming slate in rocky crags, and brightly-coloured fennel in the olive groves. This is mystic, spiritual country tracing back its past to the Carthusian monks, who worked at cultivating vines for more than six centuries. Growing in open-sited, alkaline soils, the old Garnacha vines enjoy a Mediterranean climate with more than 3,000 hours of sun per annum, an average yearly rainfall of less than 380mm, and close proximity to the sea, which provides freshness from the sea breeze (known locally as the “garbinada”) in summer. Spirit, patience, passion, light and rigour have all played their part in creating fresh and mineral, well-rounded wines, which have revolutionized the Spanish wine-making scene and reached the greatest heights of prestige and recognition on the worldwide stage. (Source: Vinissimus)

Forbrydelsen (The Killing – Danish TV Series) Third Series

I started recently to watch the first episode of the third series.

Detective Inspector Sarah Lund (Sofie Gråbøl) returns in the long-awaited third and final series of The Killing (Forbrydelsen) Trilogy. The financial crisis is raging and the number of bankruptcies and repossessions is on the rise, but Detective Inspector Sarah Lund has a newfound sense of peace in the form of a new job, a new home and the recognition of achieving 25 years of service in the Police Force.
What appears to be a random murder at a scrapyard in the Copenhagen docks begins to interfere with Lund’s plans for a quieter life and draws attention towards the shipping and oil giant Zeeland, run by billionaire Robert Zeuthen, who is the third generation head of the family to run this business empire. He is already troubled by his recent divorce and internal struggles within the company.
Meanwhile Sarah Lund is disturbed by an old flame, Mathias Borch, from the National Intelligence Service (PET) who fears that the killing in the docks is the beginning of an assassination attempt upon the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Kamper is himself in the middle of a turbulent election due to the pressures of the financial crisis and is looking for backing from the commercial sector, including Zeeland. Rumours arise that Zeeland is threatening to move the company and its production aboard–a potential disaster for the local economy.
Both Lund and the investigation quickly become embroiled in the politics of the financial crisis and all too late she begins to piece together the perpetrator’s plan and the sort of debt he is seeking to reclaim; a moral debt which costs lives and involves the taking of a particularly chosen hostage.
Destinies cross over all sections of Danish society as the hunt for the perpetrator intensifies towards a dark secret which eventually puts everything at stake for both the Prime Minister, Robert Zeuthen and Sarah Lund. (Source: Amazon.co.uk)