Dear Wine Lover,

Today we are pleased to offer you a great opportunity on what we think is one of the best wine from the Priorat region in Spain: Bodega Clos Mogador!

Situated in the vine region of Priorat, on the wild hills above Tarragona, Clos Mogador has been created in the 1980’s by René Barbier. Formed in Burgundy and then at the University of Bordeaux, he has then trained in many estates and château across France, including Pétrus.

The vineyard of Clos Mogador is situated on terraces on the hills close to the village of Gratallops and benefits from an exceptional schistose soil. With the help of his knowledge as well as with the use of modern techniques, René Barbier takes care of every detail and also favoured the biodiversity by planting fruit, almond and olive trees as well as flowers amongst the vineyards. Albeit considered an “eccentric ” he insisted and set himself further apart from the other local producers, particularly with: the manual harvest and grape selection, the use of a century old vertical press that he recovered from an old cellar, the use of wood or cement vats rather than in stainless steel. The vinification takes place is open barrels and the wines are not filtered. The end result are superb wines, cult wines which have given Clos Mogador an international radiance.

When commenting his visit to René Barbier’s estate, Robert Parker started by saying “Clos Mogador need no introduction…” and we believe that our offer requires no further words as we are proposing you the last vintage at the world’s best price!

On top of this we also give you the opportunity to taste Bodega Clos Mogador’s white wine, Nelin 2010 which Robert Parker defined as being very close to a young Laville Haut Brion. To this I would simply add that at 80% of the cost this is a great bargain!

Last but not least we offer you the Manyetes 2009. This wine is the wonderful outcome of Rene Barbier’s “side project” to experiment different grape varieties, in this case a blend of 90% Carinena and 10% Garnacha.

75.0 cl Clos Mogador - Bodega Clos Mogador 2010 CHF 48.00 (CHF 51.85 VAT included)

36 bottles or more at CHF 46.00 (CHF 49.70 VAT included)

150.0 cl Clos Mogador - Bodega Clos Mogador 2010 CHF 105.00 (CHF 113.40 VAT included)

Robert Parker 94-96points: Rene Barbier (Junior) kindly put together a blend of the five barrels that will go to constitute the 2010 Clos Mogador. It has a stricter, fresher bouquet than the 2009, with great minerality and sparkling precision. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins and wonderful purity. It exhibits notes of dark cherries, crushed stone, slate and touches of thyme and white pepper towards the finish, which has immense precision and focus. This is going to be a razor-sharp Clos Mogador – do not wait to place your order! Clos Mogador needs no introduction. Rene Barbier was a pupil of Jean-Claude Berrouet and is one of the “founding fathers” in Priorat as part of the “Gratallops group.” I met him for the first time at his home, located at the bottom of a never-ending winding dirt track and surrounded by vines. He was accompanied by his wife and energetic son, also named Rene and married to Sara Perez (see Mas Martinet.) Their 20-hectare dry farmed, vineyard is located on schistous slate and quartz soil (llicorella) and planted with 40% Garnacha (80-year-old vines) , 20% Carinena, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Syrah. The wine is raised in Nevers and Allier oak with minimal intervention.

75.0 cl Nelin - Bodega Clos Mogador 2010 CHF 25.00 (CHF 27.00 VAT included)

36 bottles or more at CHF 23.00 (CHF 24.85 VAT Included)

Robert Parker 91points: The 2010 Nelin is a little tease! At first it seems anonymous and then unfurls with subtle, seductive aromas of apricot and Clementine, all with very fine delineation (not a million miles away from a young Laville Haut-Brion.) The palate is medium-bodied with a very composed entry. It has wonderful harmony and a crisp, very focused finish, with racy acidity cutting through the quince and candied orange peel. It has very good persistency on the finish and has the substance to suggest it will age well. Drink now-2022. Clos Nelin is the property of Rene Barbier of Clos Mogador fame. It is comprised of four parcels totalling 10 hectares on llicorella soil located close to the village of Gratallops. The wine is a blend of 50% Garnacha Blanca and the rest Pinot Noir (blended as a white), Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Macabeo, Pedro Ximenez and Escanya Vella (a.k.a “old strangler”!). The wine is vinified in a combination of stainless-steel and concrete eggs, plus various sizes of oak barrel, where it spends nine months on its lees. The maiden vintage was 2000 and just 6,000 bottles are produced. Readers should note that the wine is now entitled simply “Nelin” rather than “Clos Nelin.”

75.0 cl Manyetes - Bodega Clos Manyetes 2009 CHF 40.00 (CHF 43.20 VAT included)

36 bottles or more at CHF 38.00 (CHF 41.05 VAT included)

Robert Parker 92points: Around 2,000 cases have been produced since the maiden 1989, but there are also a number of what you might call “side projects” that I have included in this report. For example, “Manyetes” was a project begun in 1999 that seeks out old vines. The 2009 Manyetes is a blend of 90% Carinena and 10% Garnacha from hot, south-facing slopes and comes under the “Vi de Villa” denomination mentioned in the introduction. It has a lifted bouquet with dark cherries, sloes, lavender and a touch of white pepper with fine delineation, all wrapped in a touch of warm alcohol. The palate is full-bodied with smooth, rounded tannins, layers of precise, peppery red fruit cut through with fine acidity. It has a firm tannic backbone and is quite masculine and tertiary, with an edgy, mineral-rich finish. This is very expressive of the grape variety, a Carinena full of personality and charm, though I would not touch a bottle for 5-6 years.