This is a Vi de Coster, the equivalent of 1er Cru. As we have said before, this is one of the most mineral, sculpted whites we know. It tastes as if the wine was tapped directly from pure rock—which, of course, it was. Forget about how rare white Priorat is; Pedra de Guix gives the great whites of the world a run for their money.
This is a blend of three varieties from three villages: Poboleda (on schist) provides the Grenache Blanc; Torroja (on alluvial soils) the Macabeo; and the chalky/gypsum soils of El Lloar contribute the Pedro Ximenez. The old vines of these sites are between 50 and 80 years old. The grapes are gently basket-pressed over the course of several hours and the juice ferments wild in diamond-shaped concrete vats, where it matures for 11 months. With most of the grapes today pressed off their skins prior to fermentation, the style now hinges on purity and tension rather than development, as was the case in the past. This comes without any sacrifice to the salinity and structure derived from its rocky soils.
Bottled unfiltered, it’s an outstanding, pungent and stony rendition of this Priorat benchmark, with laser-point acidity balanced by just the right amount of phenolic grip and textural weight. Such precision and detail are more than rare in the whites from this part of the world. Gutiérrez’s 96-point score does not flatter this stunning white.