The 2021 Arbossar matured exclusively in concrete, and they also shortened the élevage because they saw that a longer élevage tired the wines a little too much and decided to bottle them before the following harvest. The wine is clean and precise, like a laser cut, with focus and red rather than black fruit. It's medium-bodied, has moderate alcohol, 13.5%, and very fine tannins. A surprisingly elegant Cari?ena. This is a cool vineyard that delivers serious wines. 4,266 bottles were filled in July 2022.

The fruit profile of the 2020 Arbossar is completely different from the 2019s, with darker fruit and a smoky note, despite not having any oak (they stopped the foudres for this wine in 2016), but that note goes away with time in the glass. 2020 was a very challenging year, when they lost a lot of the grapes to mildew, and this is the only wine they produced; this is a vineyard near their house and winery and they had better access, other vineyards were difficult to reach because of the rain and also the limitations of manpower because of COVID-19. So, it's a year marked by mildew and the coronavirus. It's soft and fruit-driven, with round tannins and a soft mouthfeel. 4,208 bottles were filled in October 2021.

The 2018 Arbossar follows the path of the 2017 and matured exclusively in concrete, as they are abandoning oak for the élevage of all their wines. 2018 was a late-ripening vintage, cooler than 2017. The wine is very young and fresh, a lot less developed than the 2017, and it has a mixture of red and black fruit, aromatic herbs and flowers. The palate is medium-bodied with very nice balance and fine tannins, coming through as juicy but austere at the same time. This is a cooler expression of Cari?ena in a cooler year. This is from a very old vineyard that delivers very low yields, and the challenge is to achieve this harmony and elegance. They bought this vineyard in 2005. 2,008 bottles were filled in September 2020.

As I hadn't tasted the wines from Priorat since August 2019, I had two vintages of some wines to taste side by side, and that was the case with the pure Cari?ena 2017 Arbossar, which I tasted together with the 2018. It's from a vineyard planted in 1910 on a north-facing slope at 400 meters in altitude on classical llicorella slate and granite soils in the village of Torroja del Priorat that is worked biodynamically and is in the process of being certified organic. This is the first vintage to be fermented and matured exclusively in concrete, trying to achieve the soil and climate of the year more faithfully. The wine surprised me with its orange color and its very open nose, showing notes of brick dust and aromatic herbs. The palate has developed flavors and is tasty, with some grainy tannins. It seems like this vintage is now fully ripe and developed. 5,200 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2019.

The Cari?ena 2016 Arbossar shows very different from the Dits del Terra. This comes from their oldest vineyard, which delivers very low yields, in some parts no more than 300 or 400 grams per plant. 2016 was a warm year, but not as warm as 2017. The idea is to use less and less oak and, in some wines, use only concrete. In fact, Arbossar is one of the wines that will be aged exclusively in concrete. In 2017, they removed the last 500-liter oak barrels and only used oak foudres and concrete. The élevage has also been shortened, and the wine is put in bottle earlier, as sometimes a too-long aging tires and oxidizes the wines. This is a very elegant Cari?ena, with floral notes, clean berries, fine minerality, some spices and a very tasty finish. Simply superb. 4.664 bottles were filled in July 2018.