The 2011 Atrium is a pure Merlot fermented in stainless steel and aged for six months in French oak (20% new). The nose is very tight, with blackberry and briary notes tinged with mocha. The palate is supple and plush on the entry and smooth in the mouth, with a slightly chewy, liquorice-tinged, commercial finish. Drink now. Where was I on the morning of the announcement that I would be taking over responsibility for Spain for The Wine Advocate? Rather that watch the frenzy on Twitter and elsewhere, I was actually interviewing a man who has been instrumental in putting Spanish wine onto the international stage – Miguel Torres. It was sheer coincidence that my rendezvous in London happened on that very day, and as usual, he was courteous, self-effacing and charismatic. He came across as a welcome oasis of calm after what had been a frenetic morning. The Torres family’s company and their achievements need no introduction, and so I would rather cut to the chase and focus upon his Catalonian wines, which I tasted both in Priorat and Penedes. As usual, I will present my honest, unflinching appraisal, because I often read reviews where the personality and legacy is so huge that to criticize is akin to blasphemy. So what I will say is that generally I found their Catalonian wines to be “safe” and “predictable,” as if success has been so monumental that to change course is untenable. I am not suggesting that Torres need to go back to the drawing board, but perhaps they should pause and analyze their wines, not against each other, but against the competition, which is dynamic, flexible and progressive. Torres have been all these things in the past, but I felt that too many of the wines in my tastings adhered to a recipe, especially in terms of the excessive use of oak that tended to homogenize their wines, making them seem a little “old fashioned.” Yet even in his seventies, Miguel is a forward-thinker. When I met him in London, we discussed alcohol levels, my argument being that 100% new oak should not be a given. As a testament to Miguel, when I arrived in Penedes to taste with his daughter, she unexpectedly brought up our conversation and presented two trial samples of the same wine vinified at different alcohol levels. “Which one do you prefer?” she enquired, to which I replied: “That is not the important point. It is what you think that matters.” I then suggested she serve the trials samples blind and see whichever is consumed more eagerly – a simple but telling test. What I hope to see is the wines become less predictable, develop personalities and become suffused with the same charisma that Miguel and his family patently have in abundance. Importer: Dreyfus Ashby & Co., NY; Tel. (212) 818-0770