Laissez Fare

9.0

Els Jelipins 2009 (a very kind gift from, and shared with, @J_A_A). Made by Gloria and Berta Garriga in the hills Penedès. Based around the Sumoll grape, with a slightly different blend each year (depending on which rows of vineyards they decide to take fruit from). The fruit is hand-picked over a number of sessions — always early in the morning and in small cases. It ferments with the natural yeasts, without temperature control, fining, or filtration and only a touch of sulfur added right before bottling. Open-top barrel fermentation and some wax-lined oval amphorae are used, along with lengthy aging in big barrels. Each bottle is painted by hand – the design is different each year, but always includes the symbolic heart.
This has to be one of the most distinctive, intriguing and confounding red wines I've ever tasted. The first thing you notice is the cloudy ruby color. A mysterious scent leads to strong flavors of green herbs (almost medicinal) on the palate: is it tarragon or dill, or both? Elderflower perhaps? Maybe fresh olive too. Underlying this is an ever-changing red fruit core (cranberry, tart cherry), with the odd streak of wet rocks and a zippy freshness. Totally raw and wild. Impossible to pin down and paradoxical.
Ultimately, this wine was indomitable. We paired it with a full-flavored Iranian stew (ghormeh-sabzi), then with vegetarian Indian curry. The wine went remarkably well with both, though I wouldn't say it 'paired' well. You could always taste the distinct flavors of the wine, and it didn't interfere with the food, but they didn't really enhance each other either. Essentially, even robust food flavors could not tame this cloudy, 'little-looking' red wine.
After all of this, I will not say that I am gagging to try this wine again, as I'm not really sure I love the flavor profile overall … but it did grow on me over the four days we had it open. And the wine was possibly even better on Day 4 than it was on Day 1. I would definitely be happy to try it again, though, as there is no doubt it would challenge palates, ideologies and spark conversation. This is a 'real' wine, with no pretense and oodles of individuality. — 11 years ago

Steve Matthiasson

Owner/Winemaker Matthiasson Wines

9.6

Aromatic, spicy, crisp, great acid, delicious. — 12 years ago

Chip Cook

9.2

The People's Red! Extremely drinkable and if given a chance to open up, deepens in complexity. — 11 years ago

with Daniel

Mark de Vere

9.1

Love the structure and firm tight feel; maybe too old for some people's taste, but still together, enough flesh to balance, and focussed at 28 years. — 11 years ago

Andrew P

9.4

Офигенный! — 11 years ago

Jenny Fraker

9.7

The people's wine — 13 years ago

Tom Kobylarz

9.5

One of the top wines for me at the Andes tasting, fresh, concentrated and pure. This is hedonistic on most wine people's scales, though if you think before you just taste and keep thinking through the finish this wine has breadth on a long scale and good acidity. Lead pencil, cherry, violet flowers, scorched Graves like earth. The palate is full bodied as is the finish which sails and fans out and closes out nicely with an good rush of acid. — 11 years ago

Shane Lorente

9.5

Very fruity. Great bottle to bring to dinner if you don't know people's tastes. It's typically a crowd pleaser. — 11 years ago

Alex Jones

Marketing/Development Kunni/Westerly Wines

9.2

Lots of minerality in the nose. Salinity, green apple and grape in the body. The people's choice. — 11 years ago

with Ann and Allison

Zyggy Tylke

9.7

Delicious — 13 years ago

with Patrick