The Gift of Wine: Roureda Licorella

One of the hazards of writing about wine is that you can transform a previously obscure region suddenly into a star. That, in turn, brings star prices. Six years ago I watched this happen to the wines from Priorat, a rugged enclave southwest of Barcelona, after I reported from there in this magazine ("For Whom The Wine Pours," December 2003). Some of the Priorat reds I tasted then were selling for $70 a bottle, and soon they were hitting $200. So here’s the good news: You can find a 2005 vintage Priorat red that in every way is the quintessence of the region for $27.95. It’s called Roureda Licorella (the flavors mingling in Priorat include a signature hint of licorice). Moreover, it’s being offered at a discount by La Tienda, a specialist in gourmet products from Spain (including the finest olive oils and hams), so you could pair the wine with an exceptional ham, a sampler of Iberico de Bellota ($34.50), from a rare breed of acorn-fed porkers, a marriage made in foodie heaven. (tienda.com)

In fact, what you will have here is a demonstration of how important terrain is to cuisine. On first sight, Priorat looks an unpromising location for vineyards. The land appears to be an infertile crumble of earth and shards varying from grey to black, on slopes too steep to be farmed mechanically. In fact, the geology is ideal: volcanic soil containing slate and quartzite (mica) that allows roots to penetrate deep down into schist. The vineyards are fourteen hundred feet above sea level, which means cool nights and summer daytime temperatures more moderate than you would expect this far south in Spain. Thus it is that rich, gutsy reds thrive.

Likewise the small Iberico “black foot” pigs that graze freely in the foothills of southwestern Spain, near the border with Portugal, partake of the acorns littering the grass from small scrub oaks, and it is these acorns that give the cured meat its intensely dark, nutty flavor.  In a country that cares about the provenance of its hams as much as of its wines, the Iberico jamon is generally reckoned to be the finest. It’s certainly the most expensive.  Until a few years ago, because of archaic rules about permissible imports, these hams were not imported into the U.S. Now they are. And once tasted, they can be seen as the quintessence of the Spanish culinary arts.

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