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Cellar It$65-85
Clos Mogador 2020
Schist and Garnacha and a winemaker who treats the vineyard like a church.
Producer
Clos Mogador
Region
Priorat, Spain
Varietal
Garnacha, Carignan, Syrah, Cabernet
Vintage
2020
Beckett Stone
2026-04-10
The Short Take
Clos Mogador from Priorat is one of Spain's greatest wines. Garnacha and Carignan grown on decomposed schist called llicorella, biodynamically farmed, producing a wine of extraordinary concentration and mineral depth. A benchmark for what the Mediterranean can do at altitude.
Rene Barbier came to Priorat in the 1980s when the region was abandoned and the vines were old and nobody cared. He cared. Clos Mogador is the result — biodynamic farming on terraced hillsides of llicorella schist, the kind of crumbled rock that makes vines suffer and suffering makes great wine.
The 2020 is dark, dense, mineral. Black cherry, licorice, crushed stone, a smokiness that comes from the schist, not from oak. The tannins are serious but not aggressive. Give it 5 years and it opens into something extraordinary.
At $65-85 this competes with wines costing twice as much from Napa or Bordeaux. Priorat is still underpriced. Not for long.
Pairs With
Grilled lamb, chorizo, roasted peppers, a fire.
