Ageing potential may not be the only quality criterion of fine wines, but ever since the renaissance of Priorat and Montsant, the bottle-ageing potential of their wines has been questioned. This has provided the inspiration for the Tast del Decenni, an annual blind tasting of 10-year-old wines organised by the local Consejo Regulador and some top producers such as René Barbier.
After hearing very positive remarks about the 2004 vintage, I was particularly interested to compare and evaluate the evolution of the 2005s. The 2005 vintage was extremely dry. Flowering came slightly later than usual and the fruit set was...
