The DOQ Priorat covers a region of fewer than 20,000 hectares, of which 1,600 hectares are planted with vines. The landscape is abrupt and challenging, or in the words of the Catalan writer, Josep Pla, ‘cataclismatic’. Working the vineyards is a complicated, demanding and costly undertaking, and the vines produce very little compared to those of other wine regions. Fortunately, they produce exceptional grapes which, in the expert hands of passionate viniculturalists, are transformed into internationally acclaimed wines. Priorat wines are known for their character and extraordinary complexity. In the DOQ Priorat, on the lower floors of certain houses, many well over a hundred years old, winemakers and vintners can be found at work, making wine to fill no more than a few thousand bottles. Their wine comes from vines planted when it was still a sin for women to bare their arms. These bottles will travel to shops in New York, Zurich or Cape Town... Day by day, the new wineries and newly planted vineyards verify a new-found belief in this area and the llicorella "soil." The vineyard plantings in Priorat are approximately 39% Garnacha (Grenache), 27% Cariñena (Carignan), 14% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Syrah, and 6% Merlot. The blend of each Priorat red varies depending on the producer.
