Wine of the Week

Deunidó 2020 - Christian Barbier

D.O. – Montsant

Varieties – 100% Garnatxa Negra (Grenache)

ABV - 14%

€18.45 - Decántalo

I’d like to say I chose this wine of the week, but the truth of the matter is that it was chosen for me. Last year my friend Vinka Danitza was studying hard for her WSET Diploma and we’d got into the habit of blind tasting each other on wines - her for practice, me for fun. I love blind tasting but you’ve got to be doing it regularly to keep your palate attuned and to have a chance. That’s my excuse anyway, as with this wine I was pretty wide of the mark. Wider even than usual!

A reasonably pale blacky-red colour led straight into an explosive nose. Super lifted sour red fruits, lemon squash and some parma violets in there as a bonus. Not exactly rustic, but not polished either. Alive! Could only be one thing, “Ribeira Sacra” I said confidently. Nope. “Valdeorras?”. No. “errr...Northern Portugal?....Gredos?” Not French surely? It had to be Ribeira Sacra. That unmistakable nose, the acid, the mid-weight feel. All wrong. Eventually I gave up and was astonished, disbelieving even when “Montsant” was revealed.

Now I like Montsant a lot. Living in Tarragona it’s just over the first range of hills from the city. A widely-available go-to region, ever reliable and possibly the best bang for your buck in Catalunya. But it’s usually pretty ripe and rounded. Decent fruit, moderate acids. Rarely heavy, but strong enough to keep the Mediterranean’s tepid attempt at winter at bay. This was something completely different and I was intrigued.

Reading up on the wine, things started to slot into place. Made from Grenache, that explained the pale colour. Grown at nearly 600m that’s quite high for the region and would explain the acidity. 10% stems I guess would contribute to the sappy, lemon character I’d found and perhaps the rustic hint. No added SO2 would explain the brightness.

The 2019 was an astonishing debut from Christian Barbier, youngest son of Priorat legend René Barbier. Recently I was offered a glass of the 2020 Deunido and I jumped at the chance, wondering if Barbier could repeat the same trick. Indeed he has. Again an extremely vibrant red, full of sappy red fruits and parma violets with the treble turned up to eleven. Just how I remembered that jaw-dropping 2019. Not a profound wine and perhaps a little short at the moment, but that seems needlessly mean. A totally delicious modern take on Montsant, a flawless natural wine to convince any sceptics. Just 2500 bottles made!