Onix Priorato 2005, finally...

Sorry folks, my sniffer has been out of commission for over a week, a cold has sapped my energy and my sense of smell. I had my first beer in a long time last night, I couldn't taste a thing, just bubbles and the cold on my tongue. We often forget how integral the nose is to smell.

I finally had the opportunity to test out the 2005 vintage of the Onix in my last post. What a difference a year makes! Each growing season vintners are faced with new challenges in weather, pests, soil condition, etc. A hail storm one year wiping out most the crop and the next year drought; you never know what mother nature is going to do! These variables also reveal themselves in the wine. An unusually hot year will result in a grape with a lot of sugar, a cooler year would produce a wine with more acid. A vintner could also make an acid heavy wine in a hotter year, he would just pick the grape sooner. It's truly an art form and labor of love.

The Wine Advocate gave this review: "The unoaked 2005 Onix is the best vintage of this wine to date, a blend of old-vine (average age 55 years) Garnacha and Carinena. The wine has a lovely nose of mineral and ripe cherries, nicely layered and intensely flavored, with a lengthy finish."

I got the cherries on the nose but I also got a hint of sweet saddle leather, which I found intriguing because it was unoaked. The finish was lovely, it coated the mouth and went on a good 5-6 seconds. If you see either the 2004 or 2005 in the store, pick up both and hold a tasting. I think you'll be surprised at the contrast.

Yummy Onix Priorato 2004 & 2005

I had the opportunity to drink the 2004 vintage of Onix this weekend and I was very impressed. Typically wines from Priorato are very expensive (and good), but this wine was only $10! I had ordered the 2005 vintage but there were some delivery problems to my local store, so they substituted the 2004 vintage until the order could come in. If the 2005 is anything close to the 2004, I won't be disappointed!

If you happen to pick up a bottle, give it about 2-hours to open up. You'll be greeted with dense berry fruit, balanced acid and mellow tannins. The 2004 vintage was given an 87 by Stephen Tanzer and the 2005 a 90 by the Robert Parker. This is an excellent buy if you can find it in your local store. If not, go online like I do!

A little information on Priorato from Wine.com:

Priorat(pree-ohr-aht)
The Catalans call it Priorat, most others in Spain say Priorato - however you choose to pronounce it, it's easy to see it has been an up-and-coming region for Spain, sparking envy among collectors. The region has become something of a cult wine producer, creating wines that cost up to 5 times that of a quality Rioja. The region has a special soil, called llicorella made of a brown slate mixed together with rocks. Mountains surround the area and the vines are tended by hand.
Notable FactsThe red wines here are based on Garnacha, and produce inky wine with intense fruit flavors of blackberry and plums, not to mention a required minimum of 13.5% alcohol. The secondary grape of the region is Carinena (Carignan in France). This grape has lost favor in most parts of the world due to its rustic nature, but here in Priorat it's a welcome structural addition to the Garnacha based wines.

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