Priorat

Before the arrival of Phylloxera there were 5,000Ha of vines planted in Priorat, but by the time René Barbier arrived in 1979 there were only 600Ha of mainly Cariñena left. The scarcity of these wines helped them reach international acclaim, and a sudden influx in investment means there are now over 70 Bodegas here. So, what makes the wine so special aside from its scarcity? The soil. It is an unusual licorella – a dark brown slate sparkled with quartzite which provides Priorat with its defining mineral characters. These soils are unusually cool and damp which means they don’t need to irrigate here despite only receiving 400mm of rain on average per year. This means that in the best sites the yields are super small and produce concentrated wines. Cariñena is still the most widely planted but only the oldest vines produce any wine of quality. Nowadays it is the older Garnacha planted in cooler, slower-ripening sites which provide the backbone of most serious Priorat.