2015 Capcanes Mas Collet Montsant Spain 750 ml

An Unbeatable Spanish Value

Priorat makes dense, weighty, powerful reds that are among Spain’s most expensive wines. A few miles away, Montsant produces elegant, complex, beautifully perfumed reds that are among Spain’s most riveting bargains. Today, we’re offering another shot at possibly our greatest Spanish red deal — Celler de Capçanes is “one of my great value picks” of Spain, raves Robert Parker. A flashy, modern full-throttle red blend. This was named one of Sarah Jane Evans MW’s “Great value wines for the weekend under £20” in Decanter Magazine where she said “Capçanes is an outstanding cooperative, at the heart of reviving the once-fading Montsant region,” and called this wine “excellent value!” Likewise, Wine & Spirits awarded it 91 points: “A terrific value from the Capçanes Cooperative” — only $17.99 per bottle.

If you’ve gone to Barcelona but never taken the drive down the coast to Priorat and Montsant, it’s high time to book a trip to Spain’s two most exciting denominacións. In the summer, the heat shimmers across the steep, hilly terraces of these two magical wine regions. Vines a century old, with deep, spidery root structures, manage to find moisture in the substrata, offering up just a few superbly concentrated clusters per shoot.

Priorat’s signature reddish-black slate Llicorella soil produces deep, powerful, dense reds. The wines of Montsant — which hosts a more diverse mix of Llicorella, stone, and calcareous soils — are elegant, complex, and infused with Châteauneuf warmth. Thanks to the prestige of the Priorat region, it’s now home to some of Spain’s most expensive wines; Montsant meanwhile offers up some of Spain’s most riveting bargains.

The scorching Mediterranean sun can stress vines in an average year. In the intense heat of 2015 vintage, the region’s deep root structure really showed off its resiliency. Two factors mitigate what would otherwise be excessive warmth: cold inland winds blowing through a channel between the Montsant and Llaberia mountains, and chilly nights once the sun sets, with the mercury often dropping below 40F. This diurnal temperature variation makes for ethereally complex aromatic bouquets while preserving gorgeous natural acidity.

Founded in 1933 by five families, Celler de Capçanes is one of Spain’s finest wine co-operatives. It left a lasting imprint on Robert Parker: “When I was covering all the Spanish wines, this was one of my great value picks.” Since the turn of the century, the winery has racked up 14 scores of 92-95 points from Parker’s Wine Advocate.

In that blistering 2015 vintage, Capçanes produced one of its most memorable wines yet, a flashy, modernistic full-throttle blend of ripest Garnacha, Carignane, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Tempranillo that earned 91 points from Wine & Spirits. The 2015 Capçanes “Mas Collet” is inky purple. Explosive aromas of black cherry, blueberry, and violet. Big and gutsy, packed with dark purple fruit, mineral-laced, with both great richness and excellent freshness. Drink now or cellar for 2-4 years.

Jonathan Cristaldi
Editor-in-Chief, Wine Access