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You are here: Home / Archives for Priorat

Rene Barbier: the Robert Mondavi of the Priorat

November 23, 2013 by Joe Becerra

Rene Barbier - Bodegas Clos Madagor
Rene Barbier – Bodegas Clos Mogador

Rene Barbier at Clos Mogador

We continue with our summary of the outstanding wineries that we visited in the Priorat and Montsant wine regions, on our Press Trip for the Digital Wine Communication Conference, in October of this year. On a warm sunny afternoon, our caravan of two off-road vehicles carrying 14 wine bloggers arrived at the famed vineyards of Clos Mogador in the village of Gratallops. It is here where we meet the legendary Rene Barbier, and perhaps you might say, the Robert Mondavi of the Priorat wine region. As we stroll along his Garnacha vines, he speaks with passion about his land and the wines he produces.

In the early 1980’s Rene Barbier, along with Alvaro Palacios (Bodegas Palacios in the Rioja) and a few others, became fascinated with the potential of the Priorat becoming a great winemaking area. They knew that there was a unique terroir, great climate and slate soil. The area’s vineyards had been devastated by Phylloxera in the early 1900’s, and then came the Spanish Civil War. People left in droves and there was no thought of revitalizing the vineyard land until Rene Barbier and his friends came along. 1989 was the first vintage of Rene’s Priorat wine. It only took a few more years before wine critics around the globe became enamored with the Priorat wine.

In a beautiful setting, with the village of Gratallops as the backdrop, Rene Barbier explains that we are looking at a Garnacha vineyard like no other in the Priorat. This vineyard has many vines that are up to 100 years old, but interspersed are new vines that are only 2 years old. In the back of the vineyard are 15-year-old vines, and to the right are 35-year-old vines. Rene is constantly replanting. He also allows many wild plants to grow among the vines, believing that biodiversity is good for the soil and the vines. He is also planting many “cereal plants” among the vines, expecting that they will be beneficial to the vines. All his old vines are dry farmed. Newly planted vines do receive some water but once the roots take hold they are dry farmed.

In 2005 this Garnacha vineyard was given the highest possible designation. In the U.S. any winery can label a wine as a single vineyard wine. All we know about that wine is that it came from one vineyard but, of course, we know little about the quality of that vineyard. Rene’s Clos Mogador Vineyard has been given the estate vineyard designation by the Spanish government. Only the grapes from that vineyard can go into that wine. If the vintage is not good that year, the wine cannot be produced. The wine produced from this vineyard is called Clos Mogador.

Some distance away Rene also has a vineyard that is all Carigane. From those grapes he produces a wine called Manyetes. It is mostly Carigane and highly regarded. He shows us a house above the hill and tells us that is a vineyard from which he makes a unique white wine called Nelin. It is prominently Garnacha Blanc, but has a blend of four other grapes including Pinot Noir.

We stroll around a corner of the vineyards and in front of us is a wonderful tasting area. The table is old millstone and the bench has been constructed from stones. Here we taste the lineup of the Clos Mogador wines. Included in the tasting are back vintages of the 2001 Clos Mogador and the 2001 Manyetes. The wines are all amazing, deep, dark colored, rich in flavors and highly complex. We taste a back vintage of the white Nelin wine and it is lush. How often does one get a chance to try wines of extreme high quality alongside their legendary winemaker in the vineyards from which they were made? Memorable!

Hillside vineyards at Clos Madagor
Hillside vineyards at Clos Modagor

Filed Under: Priorat, Spain's Wine Country, Travel Tips, Wine Information Tagged With: Clos Mogador, Gratallops, Manyetes, Nelin, Rene Barbier

The Priorat and Montsant Wine Regions of Spain

October 30, 2013 by Joe Becerra

We have just gotten back from four intense but enjoyable days of visiting the wineries in the Priorat and Montsant wine regions of Spain. This excursion was a “Press Trip” sponsored by the 2013 Digital Wine Communication Conference (DWCC). I will be writing more about our individual winery experiences, but for now we offer some general information about these two dynamic wine regions in the Catalan region of Spain.

The Priorat is a county and within that county reside two official wine regions, the Montsant (D.0.) and the Priorat (D.O.Q). Geographically the Montsant wine region surrounds the Priorat wine region, and what separates the two regions is the soil. The Priorat soil consists of layers upon layers of slate, with a thin clay soil separating each layer. They call this soil “llicorella.” In the Montsant D.O. the soil types vary. There are limestone, red clay, stone, and some of the same slate that’s in the Priorat, but only in a few areas of the region. It is easy to determine, when you are driving these roads, whether you are in the Montsant or Priorat regions just by observing the soil. If it is all slate, you are in the Priorat wine region.

Priorat and Montsant wine regions

The black slate soil of Priorat

Red clay soil in the Montsant

Red clay soil in the Montsant

The scenery in these wine regions is very dramatic! We traveled in two four-wheel-drive vehicles with a group of 14 wine bloggers and our wonderful tour guide, Rachel Ritchie, hired by the DWCC. The roads are very windy and to get to some of the vineyards and wineries, it is necessary to have an off-road vehicle. Rachel leads us to the most important wineries in the two regions and to the meetings with some of the most respected winemakers in Spain. Many Spaniards come to visit these two regions, some staying for the day or for a brief vacation. For those out of the area, my suggestion would be to hire a guide and arrange all the visits, and then leave the driving to the locals.

Terraced vines in Priorat

Terraced vines in Priorat

The main grapes in this area are Grenache, Carignane, Grenache Blanc and a few other varietals. Priorat wines have jumped into the limelight with prestigious scores and accolades from wine publications and famous wine critics. In 2006 the Priorat was awarded the designation D.O.Q. This is the highest wine region designation in Spain and only one other region, the Rioja, has this distinction. The Montsant region had taken a back seat to the Priorat, but recently has come into is own as a great wine region. After all, the climate and geography are very much the same; it is the soil that is the difference. The Montsant does have older vines, and that might be its claim to fame over the Priorat.

Overall I found the wines of the Priorat to be big, bold, strong in character and very balanced. If you like big wines, you will like the wines of the Priorat. In general I found the Montsant wines to be a tad lighter in style, but overall excellent in quality.

Many of the wineries, especially in the Montsant, practice various levels of organic farming. Many are fully certified biodynamic wineries. This is not a PR strategy but a way of life among the farmers and winemakers of the region. They are very proud and deeply rooted in their land and grapes.

Here is a quick glance of the wineries we visited in both regions.

Priorat wineries

  • Ferrer Bobet – New, modern, and high on a hill with spectacular vistas
  • Clos Figueres – Beautiful wines and a wonderful restaurant to enjoy
  • Bodegues Mas Alta – Belgian owned, modern, with high-tech winemaking equipment
  • Burgos Porta – Small family-run winery tucked away in the Priorat
  • Terroir al Límit – We met outspoken winemaker Dominik A. Huber
  • Clos Mogador – The owner is the legendary Rene Barbier one of the most important figures in the Priorat
  • Trossos Winery – A new winery dug into the side of a mountain, with a few new guest rooms. Great views!
  • Mas Doix – Yet another pioneering winery of the Priorat
  • Portal del Periot – Architect Alfredo Arribas makes wine in both the Priorat and Montsant

Montsant

  • Vinyes Domenech – Rita Granache Blanc was delicious with our tapas lunch, excellent vineyard walk
  • Falset-Marçà – A very small family winery, with lodging nearby
  • Vermunver – A full lineup of fresh and exciting wines
  • Celler de Capçanes – A cooperative winery producing amazing Kosher wines and the Mas Donis Barrica which I buy at home
  • Capafons-Ossó – Frances Capafons runs two wineries, one in each wine region
  • Baronia de Montsant – We tasted at our lunch some of the most delicious Montsant wines of trip

Filed Under: Montsant, Priorat, Wine Tourism Tagged With: Black slate, llicorella, Montsant, Priorat, Spain

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