The wines of acústic celler: Montsant and Priorat tasting

Another shake of the Salt cellar

Later today, we'll be holding the latest in our series of tastings: Montsant and Priorat from acústic celler at SALT, the café bar bistro on Victoria Road.

Sold out again

The lucky ticket holders can look forward to some really magnificent wines from acústic celler and ritme celler, the enterprises of Albert Jané who works out of two DOs in eastern Spain: DO Montsant and DO Priorat.

A breath of fresh air in Montpellier

We met Albert for the first time at the Vinisud wine fair in 2008, right at the end, when everyone was a bit weary and we certainly hadn't any thought of shopping for something new from Spain. Even after days of tasting and talking and accompanying leathering of the palate, there was no mistaking the good fortune of this chance meeting. His wines just sang out. We couldn't resist.

DO Montsant

Montsant used to be a sub-region of the larger Tarragona DO, but won approval as a DO in its own right in 2001. The area almost completely encircles DO Priorat, and Montsant's varied soils, which include gravel and limestone clay as well as areas of slate, give rise to more generous yields from its mountainside vineyards than is usual in Priorat. With care, this fruit can give rise to wines of tremendous quality—which is something we hope to demonstrate this evening with the flagship blend of Garnatxa (Garnacha, red Grenache) and Samsó (Cariñena, Carignan), acústic. It's more than likely that Albert's adventures in white (blanc) and rosé (rosat) will get an airing too.

DO Priorat

Priorat is the older DO, famous for the very powerful and concentrated reds that come from the low-yielding vines that grow on its slate and quartz (llicorella) soils. Albert took the opportunity when it arose to acquire some property in the coveted Priorat appellation, and the wines of his Ritme Celler follow the same philosophy as for acústic: old vines, small plots, and minimal interference in allowing the fruit to express its origins in the finished wine. Since his first vintage in 2004, Albert has worked organically. You can see our selection of Albert Jané's wines here. I'm including, to conclude, a slideshow that Albert sent on to us and which may be of interest: