SCALA DEI "Cartoixa"

(Priorat, Spain) $55

Every time I taste this wine, almost no matter the vintage, I love its peaty, rich, licoricey blackness, and the way its rocky firmness yields ever so gently to the violet notes that dance through the flavors. Priorat wines can be so monolithic that they’re not easy to drink. But with Scala Dei, power and deliciousness are beautifully entwined (and it doesn’t hurt if there’s a grilled steak or lamb chops in the offing).  The wine is–as all top Priorat wines are–comprised of old vine garnacha (grenache) and cariñena (carignan). It’s named after the famous monastery of Scala Dei (“God’s stairway”) founded in 1163 by Carthusian monks on the spot where a local peasant witnessed a miracle sighting of angels ascending a staircase to heaven. The name of the wine, Cartoixa, means “charterhouse,” which is itself another name for a Carthusian monastery. 15% abv

93 points KM

Available at Westgate Wine