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Visit to Priorat

In an hour we were on our way, few miles down the road, to Clos Mogador
winery. Rene Barbier
is an incredible host. We tasted several wines from the barrels
, 2003 and 2004. All French oak, and the wines just
took the breath away. I don't drive stick shift, so I was finishing all glasses Michael (who did do the driving).
Rene, as the name suggests, is 1/2 French, his family arrived at Priorat from France many moons ago
and he sticks to French balanced, terroir tradition and creates perfect marriage
between Priorat roots and French viticulture.

The winery visit was trumped by the lunch we had with Rene at his restaurant.
7! course lunch with more wines than I could count,
whites, reds, Rene was pouring them and telling the history of each one.
The Chef introduced himself before lunch and he is also a charecter.
Japanese parents, Culinary education in France and South America,
built a solid foundation for masterpieces he created for lunch.
Needless to say I slept like a baby on the way back to Barcelona.
That was one heck of a day! If you are in the area, don't miss this visit!

Rene can be reached via his website http://www.irreductibles.org
for reservation. We got ALL the 2002 Clos Mogador bottles from the store ,
and unfortunatelly, NONE of the Clos Martinet were available for sale.
more about Priorat, it's history and modern day revolution and revolutionaires: http://www.thewinenews.com/febmar05/cover.asp

more pictures from the trip: http://nocomments.com/2/Spain/Mike/Priorat/ and http://nocomments.com/2/Spain/Priorat/
Rene, Sara, thanks once again for a day we won't forget any time soon.