Venus La Universal 2021 Montsant Dido Tinto

Sara Pérez and René Barbier of Venus La Universal are making elegant wines in the Montsant appellation, which surrounds Priorat, where their parents (the founders of Mas Martinet and Clos Mogador) revitalized and popularized the local wines. They source their grapes for Venus La Universal from 4 hectares of organically farmed grapes belonging to other families, and a small parcel of their own. For Dido, the grapes come from plantings on decomposed granite near Falset; these special soils, called sauló contributes to the minerality and the density of the wines. Indeed, Dido is ripe and rich, a full bodied Montsant red that shows the intensity of the local Garnacha and Carignan, with just a touch of spice from a small amount of Syrah.