Priorat has been cultivating vines for over a thousand years and the arrival of Carthusian monks, in the 12th century, allowed for new knowledge and techniques to develop winegrowing. This has been taking roots in the various villages that are part of the Cartoixa d’Escaladei domains, the current DOQ Priorat’s origin. Within DOQ Priorat terrirory, there a number of geological and climate characteristics that define an exceptional ecosystem. Llicorella is one of the key elements of its soil’s “terroir”, way beyond Cartoixa d’Escaladei and where DOQ Priorat villages are located, which have vines as their main crops. However, pine trees and holm oaks, besides scrub where vines used to be, can also be found on what it is one of the most singular and characteristic landscapes in the Mediterranean area. DOQ Priorat’s villages are located right by the Montsant mountains and the soil around them is very rich, with llicorella as an essential component. Still, the lithological map of Priorat is way more extensive.
DOQ Priorat has 12 wine production areas: these produce the “Vines de Vila” (Village wines), which match uniform and specific units organised according to topographical, climatic, winegrowing, social, historical and economical variables. These territories go beyond administrative limits. Villages within DOQ Priorat are: Bellmunt, Gratallops, el Lloar, la Morera, Porrera, Poboleda, Escaladei, Torroja, la Vilella Alta, la Vilella Baixa and areas in Masos de Falset and les Solanes del Molar.
DOQ Priorat wines carry the singularity of a unique land, where soil is poor in terms of organic matter, which makes existing plants to amass a very high mineral concentration, which is then transmitted to every DOQ Priorat bottle of wine. Depending the grape’s origin, the existing just under a hundred wineries in DOQ Priorat can then proceed with the following labelling for their wines, according to their winegrowing project.
Wine of the DOQ Priorat region It can be produced by all DOQ Priorat wineries using grapes grown in any of the plots within the Appellation of Origin. DOQ Priorat Village Wine
• Wine must be entirely produced using grapes grown in vineyards located on a very same area delimited by Consell Regulador.
• Wine must be produced, aged and bottled by a natural or legal person that have ownership or account for the vineyard, or that have a leasing arrangement of 10 or more years.
• The maximum production performance of the vines must be 5.000 Kg/ha with red varieties and 7.000 Kg/h with white varieties.
• The composition of wine must have a minimum of 60% of Carignan and/or Grenache varieties.
• 90% of the vineyards must be 10 years old or more. Minimum age of 10% remaining for this type of wines is 5 years.
• Wine must follow an elaboration and aging process that is totally recognisable and independent inside a winery.
Vi de Paratge DOCa Priorat
• Wine must be entirely produced using grapes grown in vineyards located on a single location (or cadastral plot) delimited by Consell Regulador and following specially limited performances.
• Wine must be produced, aged and bottled by a natural or legal person that have ownership or account for the vineyard ─themselves or their partners─, or that have a leasing arrangement of the registered plots of 10 or more years.
• The maximum production performance of the vines must be 4.000 Kg/ha with red varieties and 6.000 Kg/h with white varieties. The composition of red wine must have a minimum of 60% of Carignan and/or Grenache varieties.
• 90% of the vineyards must be 15 years old or more. Minimum age of 10% remaining for this type of wines is 5 years.
• Wine must be produced in wineries located inside the village that produces the correspondent grape variety. Consell Regulador can authorize the designation of such “Vi de Paratge” for a wine that was made outside the village that grows the specific grape variety, as long as the property that has ownership or accounts for both vineyards and wineries belongs to the very same natural or legal person. That is, as long as the owner or holder of the vineyards is the same person that produces the wine.
• Wine must follow an elaboration and aging process that is totally recognisable and independent inside a winery.
DOQ Priorat classified vineyard wine
• Wine must be entirely produced using grapes grown on a single vineyard that is classified by Consell Regulador and follow very limited performance.
• Wine must be produced, aged and bottled by a natural or legal person that have ownership or account for the vineyard ─themselves or their partners─, or that have a leasing arrangement of the registered plots of 10 or more years.
• The maximum production performance of the vines must be 4.000 Kg/ha with red varieties and 6.000 Kg/h with white varieties.
• The composition of wine must have a minimum of 60% of Carignan and/or Grenache varieties.
• 80% of the vineyards must be 20 years old or more. Minimum age of 20% remaining for this type of wines is 5 years.
• Wine must follow an elaboration and aging process that is totally recognisable and independent inside a winery.
DOQ Priorat classified vineyard great wine
• Wine must be entirely produced using grapes grown on a single vineyard that is classified by Consell Regulador, using traditional growing methods and following very limited performance.
• Wine must be produced, aged and bottled by a natural or legal person that have ownership or account for the vineyard ─themselves or their partners─, or that have a leasing arrangement of the registered plots of 10 or more years.
• The maximum production performance of the vines must be 3.000 Kg/ha with red varieties and 4.000 Kg/h with white varieties.
• The composition of wine must have a minimum of 90% of Carignan and/or Grenache varieties.
• 80% of the vineyards must be 35 years old or more. Minimum age of 20% remaining for this type of wines is 10 years.
• Wine must follow an elaboration and aging process that is totally recognisable and independent inside a winery.
• Classified vineyard great wines must have a proved traceability for, at least, 5 years. Vines used to grow grapes must have been planted before 1945 or over 75 years ago.
official website: https://www.doqpriorat.org/en/
