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Priorat, territory occupied by the Saracens until the 12th century, retains vestiges of bygone eras that take us back in time. Christianization left the region's most notable monument: the Carthusian Monastery of Santa María de Escaladei, founded at the end of the 12th century, which represents the historical cradle of the wines and viticulture of the Denominación de Origen Calificada Priorat.
In the 12th century, Carthusian monks brought knowledge and techniques from Provence to develop a viticulture that took firm root and has evolved over the centuries. It's hard to understand Priorat without its viticulture.
Vine cultivation spans altitudes ranging from 100 meters above sea level in the lowest areas to 750 meters in the highest. The region's rugged geography forces growers to cultivate vineyards on steep slopes ("costers" in Catalan), some of which don't allow mechanical access. For this reason, the most traditional farming methods are still used. The landscape created by these vineyards is one of Priorat's defining features, giving it such a strong personality and identity.
Because of the area's distinctive terroir and climate, the vines suffer considerably, resulting in rather scarce harvests, which in turn give the wines from this region a very singular identity. Red varieties are the most widely grown, with Garnacha and Cariñena as the most prominent native varieties.
The DOCa recently introduced "The Names of the Land," the new classification of wines:
- Vino de la DOCa Priorat: Reflects the generic winemaking personality and typicity of the DOCa Priorat.
- Vi de Vila: Conveys the distinctive typicity of a municipality's landscape mosaic, the sum of the diversity of its winegrowing sites.
- Vi de Paratge: Shows an even purer essence, a character tied to the terrain, geology, and a more clearly defined microclimate.
- Vinya Classificada: Born from an individual vineyard production of exceptional qualities, deserving to be bottled separately.
- Gran vinya clasificada: Very rare examples of natural and historical talent: a moving alliance between nature's whims and a tradition that has known how to interpret and safeguard, to this day, the most exclusive winegrowing treasures, unaltered through time.
Today, the DOCa Priorat has just over 2,000 hectares of vineyard, cultivated by 532 winegrowers and 109 wineries.
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