Alvaro Palacios : Gratallops Vi de Vila 2024

Characteristics and Tasting Tips for the Gratallops Vi de Vila 2024 by Alvaro Palacios

Food and Wine Pairings

With its generous structure and pronounced minerality, the Gratallops Vi de Vila 2024 pairs well with roasted or grilled meats, such as lamb with herbs, as well as slow-cooked dishes and poultry or feathered game seasoned with mild spices. It is also a fine match for hard cheeses.

Serving and Cellaring

The Gratallops Vi de Vila 2024 is best stored in a cellar at a maximum temperature of 12°C. With high ageing potential, it will reach its full expression after 5 years in bottle.

A Great Village Wine from the Priorat, Signed Álvaro Palacios

The Estate

Founded in 1989 in Gratallops, in the heart of the Priorat, the Álvaro Palacios brand takes its name from its founder, a major figure in the Catalan winemaking renaissance. Now run by Álvaro Palacios himself, the estate spans 22.61 acres of slate hillsides and has built its reputation on a hierarchy of cuvées ranging from the village wine Gratallops Vi de Vila to the legendary L'Ermita, embodying the rigour, authenticity and precision of the Priorat terroir.

The Vineyard

Sourced from several plots in the municipality of Gratallops – Coll de Falset, Mas d'en Pallares and Sorts – in the heart of the Priorat D.O.Q. appellation, this wine comes from a vineyard planted on Paleozoic-era soils of laminated siliceous slate (llicorell), facing north and east on steep terraced slopes at altitudes of between 300 and 430 metres. The Mediterranean climate, tempered by a strong maritime influence, receives 428 mm of annual rainfall. The vines, aged 26 to 82 years, are goblet-trained with stakes, cultivated using traditional Priorat methods and certified organic, with no irrigation or green harvesting. The soil is worked by a crawler tractor and by mules, for a very low yield of 13.11 hl/ha; the grapes are harvested by hand, with strict selection.

The Vintage

The 2024 harvest took place from 2 September to 17 October, with rigorous manual selection of the grapes. The estate rated this vintage "very good".

Winemaking and Ageing

The Gratallops Vi de Vila 2024 is vinified using a combination of whole-bunch and destemmed grapes, with alcoholic fermentation in oak vats, regular punch-downs and indigenous yeasts. Maceration lasts 36 days, followed by spontaneous malolactic fermentation in wooden barrels. Ageing lasts 13 months in oval foudres and French oak bocoyes. This Spanish wine is neither fined, cold-stabilised nor filtered.

Grape Varieties

This wine is a blend of 88% Grenache (Garnacha) and 12% Carignan (Cariñena), emblematic grape varieties of the Priorat.