Alvaro Palacios L'Ermita 2018

A forgotten region and a 'crazy bunch'

Alvaro Palacios was born into a wine family in Alfaro, in the eastern part of Rioja, where his grandparents founded the family winery in 1947. He studied in Bordeaux and worked at Petrus, and by his own account became 'crazy about classic wine.' He came home to Rioja in 1987, as Spain was opening up to the world, but clashed with his father over how things should be done.

In 1989, at 25, he took a call from Rene Barbier inviting him to join a small group who had just discovered Priorat, a rugged, isolated and economically depressed corner of Catalonia where growers were often paid for their grapes two years after the vintage. Palacios sold his motorbike, borrowed a car and moved. The group, which also included Jose Luis Perez, Carles Pastrana and Daphne Glorian, shared facilities and equipment while each bottled wine under a separate name. As the youngest, Palacios was nicknamed 'the dolphin,' and his first estate wine, Clos Dofi, takes its name from the Catalan word for dolphin. To support himself he sold barrels and made a merchant wine, Les Terrasses.

The early Priorats were dark, powerful wines that blended international grapes such as Cabernet and Syrah with local Garnacha and Carinena and aged them in new French oak. Their minerality, from the region's slate soils, caused a sensation in the United States and Switzerland, and buyers accepted steep prices from the start.

The slope below the shrine

Palacios came upon and bought L'Ermita shortly before its first vintage, 1993. The plot, in Gratallops in the heart of Priorat, climbs a steep slope from about 350 to 430 meters and is crowned by a small shrine, an ermita in Catalan, which gave the wine its name. Its north-facing soils of schist and quartz, Palacios says, give Garnacha 'a transcendent emotional beauty.'

One profile gives its size as 1.44 hectares and another as 1.4. The old vines, mostly Garnacha with Carinena and white grapes such as Garnacha Blanca, Macabeo and Pedro Ximenez mixed in, were planted in 1910 and 1939; Palacios added more in 1996 and 1997.

From 1993 to 2004 the blend included about 25% Cabernet Sauvignon from another vineyard. Since then L'Ermita has been made only from the grapes grown within its own boundary, and the share of Carinena has risen since the 2014 vintage. In 2017 it became the first wine classified Gran Vinya Classificada, the new top category of Priorat's appellation and the equivalent of a grand cru.

2018: the same late date, a record share of Carinena

The 2018 was picked on October 17, late in the season but on exactly the same date as the 2017, which the reviewer took as a sign of how regular the vineyard is. Like the 2017, it is mostly Garnacha, with about 20% Carinena, the highest proportion yet for L'Ermita, and 2% white grapes. It fermented with native yeasts in oak vats over a 56-day maceration and aged for 14 months in oak barrels of different sizes. Just 2,440 bottles were filled in April 2020.

Wine Advocate scored it 99, describing an aromatic, intense and elegant wine with a high-pitched note of violet pastille, more refined than the estate's single-vineyard Aubaguetes and Baixada, 'light in its feel but with inner power and strength.' The verdict: 'Grand vin, yes.' James Suckling gave it 98, citing violets, lavender, purple fruit and slate, with tight, polished tannins and 'superb finesse and precision.'

The style marked how far Palacios had moved from the dark, oaky Priorats of the 1990s. He has since replaced small barrels with large foudres for L'Ermita, saying small oak does not suit Garnacha, and his recent wines are finer and more expressive on release.

Scarcity and price

L'Ermita has been priced high since its first release, which helped give a new generation of Priorat producers confidence. With production of only a few thousand bottles a year, one profile gives just over 4,500 in a typical year and a price in Spain of about 1,300 euros, it is the most expensive wine of the appellation.

The 2018, at 2,440 bottles, is especially scarce. In October 2026 a California merchant listed it at $749.99 a bottle, though out of stock; another offered it only by the six-bottle case. A British merchant sells it only by the case in bond, without duty or tax. Bottles should read L'Ermita, Alvaro Palacios, Priorat, with the 2018 vintage; at least one merchant lists it as Clos l'Ermita.

Rebuilding Priorat

L'Ermita is widely credited with helping rebuild Priorat's image as a place where heroic hillside farming meets fine wine. Palacios also opened the door to affordable Priorat with Camins del Priorat in 2007, and his village wine, Gratallops, belongs to the appellation's Vi de la Vila category, Spain's first serious attempt to define village wines.

In 1999 his nephew Ricardo moved to Bierzo, where the family now makes Descendientes de J. Palacios, and after his father died in 2000 Alvaro returned to Rioja to run the family estate, Palacios Remondo, while keeping his Priorat winery. 'Today, we work with indigenous varieties, respecting local traditions,' he has said, describing a lesson he learned from the land.

The numbers

Vineyard size

1.44 ha or 1.4 ha, depending on the source

Altitude

About 350 to 430 m

Old vines planted

1910 and 1939, with additions in 1996-1997

2018 blend

Mostly Garnacha, about 20% Carinena, 2% white grapes

2018 harvest

October 17, 2018

2018 production

2,440 bottles, bottled April 2020

Typical production

Just over 4,500 bottles, per one profile

Wine Advocate

99

James Suckling

98

Timeline

1. 1910

   The oldest vines on the L'Ermita slope are planted.

2. 1939

   A second planting of old vines goes in.

3. 1947

   Palacios's grandparents found the family winery in Alfaro, Rioja.

4. 1989

   Alvaro Palacios, 25, moves to Priorat at Rene Barbier's invitation.

5. 1993

   He acquires L'Ermita and makes its first vintage.

6. 2004

   The last vintage to include Cabernet Sauvignon from outside the vineyard.

7. 2007

   Palacios launches the affordable Camins del Priorat.

8. 2017

   L'Ermita becomes the first Gran Vinya Classificada, Priorat's grand cru tier.

9. Oct 17, 2018

   The 2018 L'Ermita is harvested, on the same date as in 2017.

10. Apr 2020

    2,440 bottles of the 2018 are filled.

11. Oct 2026

    A California merchant lists the 2018 at $749.99 a bottle.

The world in 2018

• Feb 6, 2018

  SpaceX flies its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time.

• Feb 9, 2018

  The Winter Olympics open in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

• Apr 27, 2018

  Kim Jong Un becomes the first North Korean leader to cross the Demilitarized Zone since 1953.

• 2018

  France wins the FIFA World Cup, held in Russia.

• Nov 26, 2018

  NASA's InSight probe lands on Mars.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Alvaro Palacios L'Ermita 2018 is number 56 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (99 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Alvaro Palacios sold his motorbike to fund his move to Priorat in 1989.
• His friends in Priorat nicknamed him 'the dolphin,' and his first wine, Clos Dofi, is named for the Catalan word for it.
• Until 2004, L'Ermita included Cabernet Sauvignon grown outside the vineyard.
• The 2018 was picked on October 17, the same day as the 2017.
• Only 2,440 bottles of the 2018 were made.
• Before the revival, Priorat growers were often paid for their grapes two years after the harvest.