2006 Hospice du Rhone - Part 5
Importer Eric Solomon lined up an fantastic look at the Priorat, the region in Spain with the nearly impossible topography for growing grapes. Named for the “Prior” or head of the Cartesian Monks who planted the area’s original vines, Priorat is located in Catalonia, Spain, and is mostly about altitude - the region is mostly hilly, and in the extreme north of the comarca (county) is the Montsant mountain range, rising to over 1000m. The hills and mountains are composed largely of ancient compressed slate, called schist, which can run almost 100 ft deep at points. It is in these difficult conditions that the Grenache and Carignan prosper - or more properly, struggle to produce excellent fruit.
Join us as we hear from nine (yes, nine) leading Priorat producers about their wines and their amazing geography, to find out why “Schist Happens.”
Download Seminar Powerpoint Presentation: Click Here
Featuring:
Moderator: Steve Olson (aka Wine Geek)
Importer: Eric Solomon, Solomon Selections: www.europeancellars.com
Winemakers:
- Sara Perez and Rene Barbier
- Marc Ripoll
- Daphne Glorian
- Esther Nin
- Montse Nadal
- Eben Sadie
- Ramon Llagostera
- Raimon Castellvi
- Joan Sangenis
Wines Poured:
2003 Lo Givot - Montase Nadal
2003 Dits del Terra - Eben Sadie
2004 Nit de Nin - Esther Nin
2004 Roquers de Porrera - Raimon Castellvi
2004 Mas d’en Compte - Joan Sangenis
2003 Vinya del Vuit - Sara Perez and Rene Barbier
2003 Closa Batllet - Marc Ripoli
2003 Clos Erasmus - Daphne Glorian-Solomon
2003 Mas Doix - Ramon Llagostera
Sign up now for the 2007 Hospice du Rhone: www.hospicedurhone.org
Sponsor: Centex Homes: www.centexhomes.com
Click Below to Play the Show:
(1:36:25 min 11 MB)
Audio #34: All About Port
Audio #37: The Wines of Sierra Bodegas Montecillo
Audio #198: The Wines of Marques de Murrieta
Loved this show. With the PowerPoint presentation, this becomes a truly educational seminar. It must truly be wonderful to be able to express yourself with so passion in a foreign language, and these speakers did it wonderfully. I also want to complement you on your sound quality. Are you still using the open mike technique?
Thanks Tim. In this case, we plugged right into the sound system they were using. As you can see, the speaker had mics, so the sound was reasonably good.
Jay
Excellent job producing this show! I don’t think I could have gone through the whole show without the PowerPoint serving to orient me. I REALLY appreciated it - and hope you continue to provide accompanying photos or maps, especially for areas off the beaten path.
The combination of the PowerPoint presentation with the audio reminded me of my UC Davis distance learning classes. In fact, they may find this show of interest for use in their classes.
Keep up the great work!
Jon
Love this show. I am going to have to go out and do some winesearcher for these wines. Thanks Paul
After hearing the show - and the sound was excellent BTW - I was left wanting to go see the region to absorb the sense of “place” not just through the wines but contact with the people, food, landscape. The speakers really sold the location and I hope to experience it before McDonalds, Starbucks and the like find a way to ruin it.
Thanks again as always.
I loved this show, I particularly liked hearing from such a wide variety of wine makers who did such a good job explaining their passion in their second or third language. Having the power point presentation avaliable was wonderful. As only a very minor suggestion, I would have found it helpful if there was a slide showing the lables of the wines. In the vain hope that one day I might have an opportunity to buy them! After listening to this, my first installment of graperadio, I’m now a convert!
Regards
Siobhan
Siobhan,
We have loaded up the labels. Hope this helps out.
http://www.graperadio.com/archives/2007/01/28/2006-hospice-du-rhone-part-5/#more-200
GrapeRadio
Hi,
Great show! I am travelling to Barcelona this week and look forward to tasting and buying some of the wines mentioned in the show. I tried Priorat in the late 90’s for the first time and I’m really hooked.
Regards,
Mats L
I’ve been downloading ALL your shows and have been busy listening to them. As a result I’ve been quite busy and this is the first time I’ve been back to check if there was any response to my previous message. Boy did I feel special to realise you guys had read my email and actually put all those lables on your website! Listening from New Zealand it seems that most of the time the world is a very big place - then a gesture like this makes you realise that the wine world is a lot smaller than you think. Now I’ve just got to go find some Priorat.
Thanks guys
Siobhan
Siobhan, I love the fact people like yourself take the time to contribute to our site. May sound corny, but knowing people care about what we do means a great deal to us.
Jay
Jay/Eric/Brian -
Cool show! I listened to it while on a plane ride back from the East Coast and soon as I got home, I tried to find some of these wines for me to try. Found some 2004 Nit de Nin! Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks for the introducing me to Priorat! Will be listening to the Burghound episodes next.
Cheers.
By the way, I found that Nit de Nin from the Wine Library link on your site. Doubly good!