The profound 1995 Clos de l'Obac, with a total production of 150 cases, is an unfiltered wine that pushes extraction and intensity to the limit. Aged in 100% new French oak casks, it offers an opaque purple color, and huge, intense, unevolved but impressive aromas of kirsch, cassis, and blackberries intermingled with smoky, toasty oak. The wine possesses awesome concentration, phenomenal fruit extraction, and an explosive, tannic, glycerin-endowed, long finish. Compared to previous vintages of this wine, the 1995 is a backward, tannic, vin de garde that needs a minimum of 8-10 years of cellaring! This is a wine with 30-40 years of longevity, but readers unwilling to invest in a decade of patience will be disappointed in its performance. It is an exquisite, classic, uncompromising wine! Anticipated maturity: 2007-2030.Importer: Jorge Ordonez, Fine Estates From Spain, Dedham, MA; tel. (617) 461-5767

The 1995 Clos de l’Obac has an intriguing bouquet, the fruit having ebbed away and offering potent aromas of liquorice, molasses and singed leather. The palate offers more than the nose – a dense core of dusky red fruit, wild strawberry, raspberry and mulberry struck through with allspice and a touch of oxtail. This is nicely balanced and rewards more than the 1990 at this stage. Drink now-2018. Carles Pastrana was one of the pioneers of Priorat’s renaissance in the 1980s, when viticulture hung by a 700-hectare thread. Alongside Alvaro Palacios and Rene Barbier, Pastrana bottled his first vintage in 1989. His aim is to express the terroir in accordance with the vintage, to reflect its vagaries by always using the same blend of grape varieties year after year, while all his wines are unfiltered. The flagship Clos de l’Obac is one of Priorat’s longest serving wines although I somehow felt that the Bordeaux grape varieties did not quite “gel” with the Rhone. Importer: Vinea Imports, Seattle, WA; tel. (206) 313-4994; Mono Verde Imports; www.monoverdeimports.com; and Obac Imports; no telephone number available.

Showing off pure fruit and the essence of blackberries, this big red is rich, smooth and irresistible. Sure, it has tannin, acidity and alcohol--all in spades--but they are seamlessly integrated and subordinate to that ripe, sweet fruit. Much better than previously reviewed. Drink now through 2002. 1,250 cases made.??–TM??Region: Spain / Priorat Select to Add