R. Parker (94/100)
The regular red 2018 Planetes de Nin was produced with grapes from the four hectares of vines they planted on their Les Planetes property in Porrera with a massal selection of indigenous grape varieties in 2008. It's a blend of 45% Garnacha and 16% Garnacha Peluda, a variant of Garnacha that has some furs on the back of the leaf (called hairy Garnacha) and 39% Cariñena. There are different kinds of llicorella slate, some harder, some more decomposed and with different percentages of elements like iron, silica or black clay. The Cariñena was harvested between the 13th and 15th of September and the Garnacha between the 26th and 28th of September. They used around 40% full clusters and the rest destemmed but uncrushed grapes that fermented in 3,200-liter oak vats with their natural yeasts during 15 days; they pressed and put the grapes back in the vat to finish fermenting without skins, and then the clean wine was moved to a 3,000-liter oak vat where it completed an élevage of a total of 20 months. This has darker fruit than I expected, with notes of ink and graphite, and it's a little earthy with iron-like notes of blood and meat. It has a medium to full body with some grainy tannins and a long, dry finish, but with very good freshness. They tell me it's something typical from the stony and iron-rich soils from Les Planetes, and the wine needs a little bit more time in bottle.