Priorat is
a small area in Catalonia, a county where two different Designations of Origin
coexist: Priorat and Montsant, really very close but different.
A key
aspect is the soil: the basis of the Priorat soil is the slate (called llicorella in Catalan) with traces of
mica and the steep slopes. The main consequence is that the roots of the vines
need to reach the ground-water table because the slate doesn’t retain the
water.
In this
region, the vineyards are at different altitudes, from the 200 m the lowest point
up to 750 m above the sea level in places like Porrera, which can make a big
difference between the vines and grapes.
Also, the
climate is important: summer is a long season, hot and dry with great contrasts
of temperature, which can change from the 35-40ºC during the day to the 15ºC or
less at night. The winter is really cold
in this area.
So, the
soil, the height and the climate determine a charming landscape which
captivates you.
The result
of all these distinguishing marks are young
wines, deeply coloured, brilliant with persistent and serene aromas and on
the palate are chewy and full-bodied, with a long aftertaste. Often these wines
have a high alcohol content (between 14% and 15% abv), but with a well
integrated tannins and very well balanced.
The criança
and reserve wines are aged in oak
barrels smoothing away any aggressive notes due to their youth. In this way,
they obtain a complexity that only can be perceived through taste and smell.
In the
Priorat Designation of Origin you can find different kinds of wines depending
on where are they from: Single State Vineyard and vi de vila that we can translate as “wine of the village” because
the difference between villages (specially their geography and soil) make a big
difference to the wines). Both are precisions of some Priorat wines (in this
video http://vimeo.com/23003431 Álvaro Palacios, Daphne Glorian and also René Barbier
explain it very well... but in Spanish).
