The beauty of the Priorat

JR — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:12:55 +0000

From traditional methods of winemaking, to mountainside vineyards, and ancient villages, we take you on a visual journey through some of the Priorat’s attractions which have lured young winemakers back to this beautiful and rugged region.

The Wine Dreamers of Priorat

JR — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:50:00 +0000

Priorat wines have achieved a cult following recently with the more adventurous of wine enthusiasts. This tiny region, located in the Catalan region of eastern Spain, is an ancient and once thriving wine center, but it has suffered greatly in the last century under phylloxera and war. By the mid 1900’s, commercial production was all but dead. In 1988, however, a small group of Spanish and international winemakers rediscovered the potential locked in these lean, slate soils, and now the Priorat is experiencing a remarkable renaissance. But still, it is a place beautifully frozen in time, where ancient stone villages survive almost entirely on agriculture, where the local breakfast spot is packed every morning of the harvest, and where tourism is virtually unknown. Our friend Eduoard Labeye, a consulting winemaker and broker, takes us to this magical region and introduces us to a small group of his friends stubbornly dedicated to low yields and traditional methods, and who are making extraordinary wines. He calls them not wine makers, but wine dreamers. Join us for part one of our Priorat episode, as we travel to this remote and ruggedly beautiful region to discover one of the great wine stories of our time.
In Priorat we meet up with well-known South African wine maker Eben Saadie, of Saadie Family fame.

Eben splits his time up between South Africa and Spain, like many other winemakers who have discovered the region and now call it a second home. His partner, Dominik Huber, is a restauranteur from Munich who fell in love with this area and decided to stay. These guys were great hosts. Together with our friend Eduoard (from Crazy Wine and Travels with Eduoard episodes) they took us on a rowdy drive up to their flagship vineyard where you can see most of the region. It feels like Utah here - stunning red rock canyon, sparse Mediterranean vegetation mixed with pine forest, and dramatic rock walls. As is usually the case, the drive up was, well, exciting. But when you get there, and see how steep the terrain is, how rocky the soil, and how little water is available, you start to realize why these wines can fetch high prices. Granted, there is some irrationality involved with the sticker price on some of the more sought-after brands (we’re talking upwards of $300/bottle), but nonetheless, this is extreme farming. And if you’ve ever had a good Priorat, you know that these wines can be very special: deep, muscular, silky, and profound.
Our tour of the Priorat continues. We travel to Gratallops, located in the foothills of the Priorat. Here the climate is drier and hotter, and the wines reflect this. We meet with Daphne Glorian-Solomon, founder and winemaker of Clos Erasmus, one of the more celebrated Priorat wines. After that it’s another crazy tour to one of the highest vineyards in the region. We finish in Porrera, an ancient village almost too beautiful for words. So sit back and watch, my friend.

We conclude our episode, as always, with a local meal and local wine.

» Priorat

The beauty of the Priorat

The Wine Dreamers of Priorat