Final yr, Cláudio Martins and Pedro Antunes brought on a stir within the Portuguese wine commerce after they unveiled a €1,000 talha wine from Alentejo.
It was the costliest non-fortified wine to emerge from Portugal’s shores, retailing at nearly double the worth of Douro icon Casa Ferreirinha Barca Velha.
That wine was named Jupiter. Now Martins and Antunes have adopted it up with Uranus, a purple produced in Moreira del Montsant within the Catalan area of Priorat.
It includes 85% Garnacha Negra Peluda, 10% Garnacha Blanca and 5% Cariñena from the 2021 harvest, grown on purple clay soils 743m above sea stage.
Dominik Huber of Terroir al Límit was tasked with creating Uranus. He used a cement egg to deliver ‘refinement and magnificence’ to the wine through the eight-month ageing course of. It was bottled at 12.5% abv.
The tasting notes are mild on flavour and heavy on poetry: ‘The lithe aromas and flavours transfer like a dancer throughout the nostril and palate from deep purple and blue fruit to stone to spice with a constant velvety texture, but that appears nearly secondary to the almost transcendental stability and inside quiet.’
Hubik mentioned that Uranus has ‘extraordinary ageing capability’. He hopes it’ll ‘put Priorat and all future producers within the highlight of recent shoppers, the millennials, who need to purchase high-quality merchandise at the next value as a result of they know that these wines, particularly, will give them pleasure, profitability, status and standing’.
There are simply 500 bottles of Uranus obtainable, together with some massive codecs.
The plan is to finally launch 9 wines – one for every planet within the photo voltaic system. Future releases will come from Bordeaux, Champagne, Tuscany, Napa Valley, Mosel, Georgia and at last one other from Portugal. Solely 500 to 1,000 bottles from every area shall be produced.
‘These 9 wines will shortly grow to be among the most sought-after wines over the approaching many years, and understandably, their worth will enhance exponentially over that interval,’ mentioned Martins. ‘They’re an actual collector’s merchandise, and we wish them within the palms of connoisseurs who recognize their particular character.’
