The wines of Alvaro Palacios and family PALACIOS REMONDO, DOCa Rioja (Rioja Baja) pages 2-3 The Palacios family, nowadays headed by Alvaro’s sister, Conseulo, runs the Hotel Palacios in downtown Alfaro, adjacent to

which is the family bodega – the winery responsible for the Palacios Remondo wines. Both Alvaro and his nephew, Ricardo

(Consuelo’s son, with whom Alvaro is partner in the DJP wines from DO Bierzo) were born and educated in Alfaro before they

commenced their broad agricultural wanderings. Having formally departed Alfaro in 1989 in order to set up shop in Priorat,

Alvaro ‘returned’ in 2000 following the death of his father, Jose, who set up the family business in 1945 and ran it from then on.

On behalf of his eight siblings, Alvaro now runs all aspects of the family’s wine bodega, which has been much transformed in the

intervening 15 years of Alvaro’s care.

ALVARO PALACIOS, DOQ Priorat pages 4-13 Alvaro is one of the group of 5 famed ‘pioneers’ who arrived in Priorat in 1989 primed to recover and reinvent the remnant old

local Garnacha of the region. In the 25 years since, an enormous transformation has been wrought – not just in the fortunes of

Priorat wine, but in the strength and confidence of an entire local community and its economy. Priorat is a wonderful place, old

and mystical country of great natural beauty. Its best wines harness this countryness and encapsulate it through the delicacy of

Garnacha, and Alvaro is its most skilled and subtle exponent.

DJP (DESCENDIENTES de J.PALACIOS), DO Bierzo pages 14-17 The ‘Descendientes’ are Alvaro Palacios and his nephew, Ricardo Perez Palacios. Both are descendants of Alvaro’s father, Jose

Palacios, who died in 2000, just as the first Bierzo wines were being prepared and for whom the Bierzo project is named. The

winery is in the town of Vilafranca de Bierzo, below the mountain village of Corullón, above which are most of the DJP vineyards.

DJP commenced in 1999, when the young Ricardo was studying permaculture in Leon, subsequent to his viticultural studies. He

came across some very old plantings of Mencia high on the mountain slopes above Corullón, and recognised these as heritage

material of great potential and importance, just as Alvaro had done a decade earlier with the remnant old autochthonous

Garnachas of Priorat. Alvaro was summonsed to inspect and an immediate decision was made to invest and investigate. For 16

years since, Ricardo and Alvaro have been purchasing and renovating old vineyards, massale propagating heritage genetic

material throughout their holdings, all the while refining how to grow and vinify Mencia.

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Palacios Remondo, DOCa Rioja (Rioja Baja) ALFARO

Alfaro is in the far south-eastern corner of la Rioja,

and is the largest production village in Rioja, with

3750 hectares of vines (Laguardia is second). Here,

on the southern shores of Rio Ebro, the soils tend

to be fertile alluvium – too productive for growing

quality grapes. However, some of the world’s finest

vegetables come from the rich red soils around

Alfaro … piquillo peppers, artichokes, asparagus

and much more.

The fruit from which Palacios Remondo wines are made is no run-of-the-mill product of rich dirt, though. Their holdings are 15

kilometres west of Alfaro, high up in the pale clay hills under Mount Yerga. This is one of the highest parts of the entire Rioja

appellation, cold and very late-ripening. Yerga is in the Sierra Yllera, part of the Sistema Iberico which divides this last vestige of

Rioja from Soria, the wild eastern-most part of Ribera del Duero. The soil is a quarternary-era coarse chalky clay riddled with

‘pebbles’ - quite big rocks of various mineral origins (metamorphic volcanic lava, limestone, sandstone, quartz and basalt). In the

rain-shadow of Yerga, rainfall is a very low 360mm (compared to 550 in Haro).

Under Monte Yerga, the Palacios family have 110 hectares of their own vineyards and a further 60 hectares they rent from two

families with which they have a long association. With the Yerga Mountain looming behind at 1100 metres, the main vineyard,

‘La Montesa’ is at around 550 metres altitude. The vineyards of the families from which they rent are just below in front. The

oldest vineyards, above La Montesa at around 660 metres, are at the limit of Garnacha’s ability to ripen.

PALACIOS REMONDO NOW

While growing up in Alfaro, Alvaro witnessed the dumbing down of Rioja after the Civil War, where Tempranillo became all that

was validated, and Rioja itself became a simple, price-oriented “brand”. Alvaro allows that the bad decision-making of the 80s

and 90s was the result of a lack of confidence, and calls the focus on varietal Tempranillo an ‘invasion’, particularly on the soils

below the river: nowadays, 80% of 23,000 hectares of Rioja Baja is planted to irrigated Tempranillo, producing, as he terms it,

“artificial wine”.

In 15 years under Alvaro’s guidance, the vineyards and wines of Palacios Remondo have undergone extraordinary change. Once

a conventional Rioja producer based on industrially-farmed Tempranillo and the Crianza-Reserva-etctera model of industrial

production, nowadays the vineyards of Palacios Remondo are organic and bio-dynamically grown low-crop plantings of

Garnacha, with a scattering of white Viura. Any Tempranillo in the Palacios Remondo wines is purchased from good growers

near Haro on the north shore of the Ebro.

Avoiding industrial clones from the nurseries, all plantings are massale cuttings of these hills’ ancient genetic selections, planted

on Rupestres de lot rootstocks. While all ancient and recent plantings are ‘en vaso’ (goblet-pruned bush vines), the 20-some year

old plantings of la Montesa itself are grown on trellises. Alvaro plans to spend the next 10 years re-grafting this main vineyard to

bush vines. This would not seem necessary to most, given the outstanding quality already reached. It is simply the best thing to

do, though, according to Alvaro, and therefore mandated.

PALACIOS REMONDO ‘Placet’ Viura

100% Viura fermented more than a month at 13 degrees in 2000 litre oval Tinas then aged 10 months in the

same old oak. Half goes through malo, half not. There is a weekly batonnage on fine lees for 5 months, then

the wine is racked for another 5 months’ ageing without lees.

The name is an old Latin blessing, or permission … ‘the green light’.

PALACIOS REMONDO 'Placet' Viura 2011

Spiced pear, white flowers, golden apple and citrus rind on the nose follow through on a rich palate with very

good volume and length before an easy release. The mealy texture is nicely tucked into a soft, fresh, running

palate, and the overall effect is pure and elegant.

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PALACIOS REMONDO 'La Vendimia' Garnacha-Tempranillo

An unfiltered, biodynamic Rioja regional blend, 50/50 Garnacha from below Rio Ebro and Tempranillo from the

river’s north shore. Alvaro’s precise-yet-barely-tutored wines gently but unfailingly reflect the earth in which

they grow, and this hallmark is seen in spades here. 4 months in barrique.

PALACIOS REMONDO 'La Vendimia' Garnacha-Tempranillo 2013

Both bright and earthily-fruited, this juicy little wine balances neat, modest tannins and soft red dirt acidity.

Mid-weight at most, round and complete, gently spiced and perfumed, it’s classy and delicious.

PALACIOS REMONDO 'La Montesa' Garnacha-Tempranillo

La Montesa is the Palacios’ name for the shovel-nosed hill-slope above the town of Alfaro from which their

main wines are selected. Three passes yield the Viura blanco, the joven tinto ‘La Vendimia’ and its big sister ‘La

Montesa’ which is aged in older French oak. It’s just a little ‘more’ than La Vendimia … more savoury, more

mineral, more structured, yet still extremely gentle and open-weave. It’s all things to all people – affordable to

quaff, stylish enough for a dinner party. 70% Garnacha, with some purchased Tempranillo, aged a year in new

to 4 year-old barriques. These are extremely clean, with all wood in the Palacios Remondo bodega being

washed in hot water, rinsed in cold water, then re-washed with jets of ozone.

PALACIOS REMONDO ‘La Montesa’ 2010 Garnacha-Tempranillo

Red-black fruits, floral and vegetal, earthy and savoury with a hint of tobacco from the Tempranillo in the blend. Filled with light,

La Montesa gurgles gently – delicate, open, nimble, mineral and elegant. Structurally, it’s close to impossible to tell where earth,

oak, tannin, acid and minerals each begin and end … they meld to affect a disarmingly simple ‘mouthfeel’ within the fruit.

PALACIOS REMONDO ‘La Montesa’ 2011 Garnacha-Tempranillo

Fuller and softer than ’10, the ’11 is very easy and natural. 65% Garnacha. Gently earthy and citric-electric, with morello cherry,

beets, angelica, herb, sarsaparilla, raspberry and beautiful dirt smells. Air sets it free from its earthen register, and as it opens

there’s a lovely arc of gentle tension as the fruit and florals lift up and out of the nutty-dusty tannin and herbal-acid bed. a

beautifully open, charming wine.

PALACIOS REMONDO ‘Propiedad’ Viñas Tradicionales Garnacha de Alfaro

95% Garnacha with a touch of Monastrell and field blend Viura, this is a blend of five old vineyards

grown at up to 660 metres altitude under Mt Yerga. Las Mulgas is the oldest of these, at 90 years old.

This is “the limit” for Garnacha – any higher than this and you get unripe, thin-skinned Garnachas.

Fermented in Tinas, aged in 650 litre French oak and bottled unfiltered, the 2010 Propiedad represents

the culmination of a decade’s intense labour by Alvaro, returning the Alfaro vineyards to their ‘natural’

viticultural direction.

PALACIOS REMONDO ‘Propiedad’ 2010 Viñas Tradicionales Garnacha de Alfaro

Woody in many ways, none of which come from oak and winemaking! There’s wood-spice, old-vine heartwood, forest, briar and

blackberry. Nestled among and arising from this woodsiness, savoury red berries and plum carry angelica, tobacco and sage.

Earthiness and well defined pretty red berries show on the palate, with terrific natural fruit acidity and light tannins. Gentle,

open, dry and subtle, it’s spicy and earthy with lovely perfume release at back.

PALACIOS REMONDO ‘Propiedad’ 2011 Viñas Tradicionales Garnacha de Alfaro

“An axis-shifter”, as Alvaro terms it, 2011 is deep and energetic. Without any fanfare, it rips the cover off the idea of Rioja Baja.

Fleshy and softly earthy with lantana herb-florals, wild rose and hawthorn above the heartwood smells of the old vines. There’s

orange and grapefruit peel and a saline streak. Lovely and gently juicy wine in the direct manner of the 2011s. Nicely open with

wonderful volume and terrific textural maturity. Full of light and air, vibrant with soft fresh acidity.

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Alvaro Palacios, DOQ Priorat organic, biodynamic viticulture recovering the patrimony of Priorat

Camins del Priorat: young vineyards planted with L’Ermita Garnacha material – the renewal of Priorat

Les Terrasses: all old vines from the ‘Cims’ or hilltops, Samsó with Garnacha – the residual old Priorat

Vi de Gratallops: village wine, Garnacha with Samsó – the legal beginning of site-specificity in Spain

Finca Dofi: vineyard planted early 1990s and re-planted ongoing to recuperated heritage Garnachas

L’Ermita: heritage vineyard, the repository of Priorat’s purest and most original Garnachas

"I come from a family that wanted to save the patrimony of these lands” (Alvaro Palacios)

Alvaro’s wines express Priorat in a hierarchy commencing with

two regional wines, Camins del Priorat and Les Terrasses.

Thereafter, he works specifically in the village of Gratallops,

where his bodega is located. From Gratallops comes a village

wine, Vi de la Vila Gratallops, and the two single vineyards,

Finca Dofi and L’Ermita. (Forthcoming, from 2014 onwards

there will be a second Vi de la Vila expression – the Aubaguetes

vineyard at Bellmunt).

Alvaro's holdings are a mix of old vine mountain Garnacha and

Samsó and newer plots of Garnacha planted to heritage genetic material massale-selected from his oldest vineyards. These

constitute the renewal of the “Patrimony of Priorat” – the continuity of a 2,000 year legacy of constant genetic adaptation of

Vitis Vinifera in a place. This commitment to a ‘historical’ future in Priorat is an extremely deep one for Alvaro, and a nuanced

position resultant from a quarter-century of continual reflection and accretive understanding.

At first, Alvaro also worked with introduced French varieties, along with the others of the group know as ‘Los Clossos’ (each of

the 5 originally called their personal project ‘Clos-This-or-Clos-That’ – Clos Dofi, Erasmus, Mogador, Martinet and de L’Obac). The

others were very keen on Cabernet, Syrah and Merlot and Alvaro planted these too. It says much about the definite nature of

the Priorat terroir that varieties as disparate as Cabernet and Garnacha can be meaningfully subsumed by the soil and unified in

blends which look utterly Prioratish no matter their composition!

However, into his second decade of work in Priorat, Alvaro came to consider the French varieties a historical mistake and

commenced re-engineering his plantings to eradicate the strangers in favour of indigenous Garnachas, largely taken from the

L’Ermita vineyard. In Alvaro’s words, “the music, the poetry, finesse and vibrancy is in the Garnacha”. L’Ermita has been free of

French grapes since 2006, with Dofi and Gratallops both coming from pure Priorat cultivars since 2011. Eventually, Alvaro’s

wines will be nearly all Garnacha, although there will always be a place for some characterful old vine Samsó.

THE 2012 HARVEST

Alvaro considers 2012 the best vintage since his arrival in Priorat in 1989.

It’s the driest year on record – 1/3 of normal rainfall. After a cold dry 2011/12 winter, the only real rainfall support prior to

harvest was 130 litres in March and April, with light freshening rains in September enlivening the small, concentrated berries.

The entire vegetative cycle was slow and dry, with perfect berry formation – such fruit set is extremely rare in the old clonal

material of Priorat Garnachas.

Alvaro: “2012 is a year born for glory, intended to fill our days with delight, pleasure and the emotion of beautiful mysteries.

Stimulating and spiritual, it flows mightily and richly with magical touches. A year brimming with thrill!”

THE 2011 HARVEST

A very high quality, full-bodied vintage. 2011 was another drought year (the third of four in a row), with virtually no rain during

the ripening phase, and only 320 mm for the whole phase (compared to an annual average still very low at around 500). The

winter lead-in was snowy, but dry too, with a good drenching rain in March, which fed the entire harvest. Plentiful bud-burst in

April, which May hail reduced by 10% before a cool June with some rain. Although summer was dry, it was also quite mild, until

an August heatwave. Small berries in small bunches were picked and then selected by hand, berry by berry, yielding a crop half

the average. July through October was a total drought. Although dry, the harvest was marked by very mild weather. Berries

were about 60% of normal size and low in malic acid – secondary fermentations were quick and easy.

5

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘Camins del Priorat’

The ‘Camins’ are the pathways of Priorat (in Castilian, ‘Caminos’), linking villages up and down the hillsides

from valley floor to mountain top. The regional council has recently completed renovation of many old Camins,

so one can now happily hike from place to place away from the motorways. Fond of a walk and a think, Alvaro

named his entry level release after these paths. ‘Camins del Priorat’ is a regional wine, taken from younger

vines below the hilltop extremes, throughout the hills and valleys along the pathways of Priorat. Typically, it’s

about 2/3 Garnacha and 1/3 Samsó. The vineyards which give fruit for Camins signify a rebirth - wonderful

viticulture, great care and expense is afforded to the project of re-planting the hills of Priorat with their

indigenous Garnachas. De-stemmed, fermented in open concrete, wood and inox vats, and aged 8 months in

larger used French oak. Flint, granite, almond, lavender, cherries, pomegranate and Mediterranean freshness –

it’s Priorat Garnacha!

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘Camins del Priorat’ Garnacha blend 2012

40% Garnacha, 25% Samsó, 18% Cabernet, 10% Syrah, 7% Merlot

The joyous Priorat Garnacha tells of orange juice and ruby grapefruit perkiness are abundant, being the last note on the nose and

the cheeriest aftertaste, leaving the wine fresh and vibrant on nose and in mouth. Its darker elements are herbed and spiced, a

medley of root vegies (carrot and parsnip) and the ashy-earth they are rooted in. It’s both prettily-fruited and mineral-edged,

with a deep, pure earthiness and fine, delicate tannin. Abundantly energetic.

ALVARO PALACIOS Velles Vinyes ‘Les Terrasses’

Les Terrasses, like Camins is a regional wine, but is defined as “Velles Vinyes en costers”: taken solely from old

mountain bush vines grown on the llicorella (slate) soils of the Cims or hilltops around the rim of Priorat’s high

country. It faithfully reflects the historical material Alvaro discovered on arrival in 1989. Fruit is taken from 65

historical plots though most of the Priorat villages, off vines aged 60-90 years and cropped around 1.5

tonnes/hectare. Winemaking is as for Camins, but bottled without filtration. Over recent years, it has changed

to a Grenache-predominant wine as more mature Garnacha grown en costers is available. Les Terrasses is an

authentic and delicious Priorat with genuine old vine character.

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘Les Terrasses’ Garnacha-Samsó 2012

Garnacha with 45% Samsó. Ashy, deep and dark with rosehips and leathery spice under cherry blossom, with a dash of orange

juice. Solid-fruited thanks to the pruney old vine Samsó, it’s garnet coloured, opening to a velvety floral-spice fan on the nose.

Fluent and long, a steely firmness underpins the fruit, reflecting the schist soil. The fruit is floral, slinky, dark and abuzz with briary

herbs and stony earth.

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘Vi de la Vila Gratallops’

Alvaro lobbied for legalisation allowing the naming of wines according to their Village location. Prior to this, a

perverse illegality applied, whereby growers were not allowed to use Village names on their wines. There are

now 12 legal Priorat Vi de la Vila sub-regional village appellations. The first release of such was the 2007

“Gratallops”. The fruit source is Alvaro’s various holdings in-and-around Gratallops, 8.5 hectares in eight parcels

other than Finca Dofi and L’Ermita. The wine’s composition for the first vintages (2007 on) was roughly 1/3 each

of Garnacha, Samsó and Cabernet. From 2011, it’s just Garnacha with a little old-vine Samsó. De-stemmed,

spontaneous fermentation in open wooden vat, macerated 40 days, aged 16 months in small French oak, 1-2

years old. Fined, unfiltered.

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘Vi de la Vila Gratallops’ Garnacha 2012

Garnacha with 20% Samsó.

Blue-hued and relatively pale, with a mature perfume of tea flowers over apple and crisp cherry, pomegranate. Heaps of balsam

(sticks and herbs) give an incredible smell of place, just like walking around the ridgetops of Gratallops. The palate is powerful

and will unfurl to match the charm of the nose, becoming long and floral, running on classy tannin and a snip of spice. Overall, it’s

crystalline and pure with a delightful sweet-pippy natural acid-tannin line.

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘Vi de Gratallops’ 2011

Composed and complete, this is a really beautiful-smelling wine. Rosehip, elderberry, wildflower, dark tea leaf ... it's pretty, soft,

velvety, floral and lifted all at the same time. In the mouth fruity turns to savoury: spiced plums have floral lift and sooty depth.

it's expressive, expansive and mouth-filling, yet reaching, dancy and deft, almost evanescent in its beauty. Totally Priorat in

expression – nose, mouthfeel and flavour somehow see to avoid the regularities of fruit and winemaking - it’s purely wine from its

earth. It’s a wonderful amalgam of llicorella’s fresh-sooty earthen minerality, garriga and bright OJ-buzzed red fruits of

impeccable glyceric restraint. A wine of stupendous harmony - fruit punch and structural crunch in an effortless line.

6

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘Finca Dofi’ and ALVARO PALACIOS ‘L'Ermita’

When Alvaro went to Priorat in the late 1980s, he bought ‘L’Ermita’

- the largest single plot of old vine, local Garnacha left, at just 1.4

ha. At the same time he planted ‘Finca Dofi’. Once, both wines

featured French varieties, but both are now pure Priorats,

‘L’Ermita’ since 1996 and Dofi from 2011. Wines from these

beautiful vineyards are smokily mineral from the schist soil. Soot, as

in chimney dust, is the best descriptor of aroma, and there’s a very

cool, steely tang in the mouth. These wines are redolent of cherry

blossom, wild herb, orange peel and grapefruit, with red currant,

blood plum and rosehip. They radiate in the mouth, shiny, pure and

fine, expansive and yet breath-takingly deft, nervy and ethereal.

Not all wine is like this, certainly not all Priorat, but not everyone is

Alvaro Palacios … these are wines for lovers of delicacy, poise and

refinement. They exemplify the vivacity that world-class organic

viticulture practiced at a special site can achieve in sensitive hands.

ALVARO PALACIOS Finca Dofi

Planted in 1991 at around 300 metres altitude, Dofi is on ferrous brown and yellow slate – a more voluptuous, energetic soil

than L’Ermita. Still, grasses are cut back as the vines don’t need any further competition for nutrition in the dry, poor soils. Dofi is

planted to three genetic versions of the local Garnacha: that of L'Ermita itself, one from the “Shady Vineyard” at Bellmunt to the

south of Gratallops, and another strain from the North of Priorat.

There are now, in fact, two Finca Dofis. Alvaro’s original planting is 9 hectares at the top of the ridge line along

from the winery at Gratallops, facing south towards Bellmunt. The second, more recently-planted “new Dofi” is

the hill-slopes hanging below the ridge line, facing towards Torroja, mimicking L’Ermita (see photo above).

These new plantings have two facets - 3 hectares facing north and 4 to the east. These beautiful new vineyards

have had the highest possible care in their creation. They are massed with local balsamic plants – wild-growing

lavender, fennel and thyme. Almond, olive and hazelnut trees are everywhere. Organically farmed, protected

by valerian and cereal infusions, sprayed with mined sulphur, with added nutrition from sheep/cow poo every 3

years. Dofi is de-stemmed, gently crushed, fermented in open vats with a little pigeage and 42 day maceration,

before aging in new French barriques. Bottled unfiltered and unfined. Garnacha with a touch of Samsó.

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘Finca Dofi’ Garnacha 2012

Garncha with 4% Samsó

Sweet blueberry fruit with a chocolate touch is stunningly balsamic. An electric-citric orange zing emerges with time open to air.

Very much a wine of the woods, with cherry blossom, smoked bosque boughs and pepperminty herbal essential oils. A wine of

great power and terrific line, with chewy-sweet fruit tannins delivering fruit all the way to the end, which is filled with peppermint

oil gathering in an OJ-inflected acid buzz.

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘Finca Dofi’ 2011

Dark fruit tea/balsamic herb infusion nose is red-spiced, with smoky soil aromas. There's a subtle floral boof of red rose, lavender

and red fruit tea over stones, stones and more stones. Firm at heart, it flowers, radiating and becoming increasingly delicate and

fine, up and back, along and away, slowly revealing the pretty Priorat Garnacha tells of blood orange, ruby grapefruit, orange

juice and zest.

ALVARO PALACIOS L’Ermita

A conical, or bull-nosed, very steep hillslope, facing north-east at 350-430 metres altitude. L’Ermita is planted to

92% Garnacha, with 7% Samsó (which goes into ‘Gratallops’) and a tiny bit of white (a mix of PX, Macabeu and

Garnacha Gris). The soil is alive with minerals, not just its metalic blue-green llicorella (compared to the more

ferrous pinky-brown slate of Dofi), but also zinc and aluminium. These are pre-Cambrian soils 300+ million years

old formed deep (5-50 kilometres) in the earth’s crust, and which erupted in Priorat during the Carboniforous

period (approximately 250 million years ago, similar to Bierzo, the Douro, Alsace and Cote-Rôtie). L’Ermita is

planted at 4,600 vines/hectare, all trained ‘en parra’ (bush vines trained on a 2 metre pole) and tilled by mule.

Harvested in late October, all berries are hand de-stemmed and selected. The wine is fermented in open

wooden vats then aged in new French barriques before bottling without fining or filtration.

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ALVARO PALACIOS ‘L'Ermita’ Garnacha 2012

Rose colour, purpled and silver-edged. Smells of cranberry and tiny sour wild strawberries, with a haunting and delicate ashy

smell of place. The wine is perfectly composed and utterly delicate despite its intense power, which is deeply cupped. Everything

releases to a relaxed, profound finish. Spice radiates in all directions. The very fine fruit is redolent of balsalm (of bosque wood

and herbs), rounding out in all directions, sweet and sour, rolling, with great internal tension and yet effortless.

ALVARO PALACIOS ‘L’Ermita’ 2011

Creamy nose with herb maceration, rosehip tea, cranberry, rocks, peony rose and peppermint balsalm. Deep, really unbelievably

deep, sublime power.

DOQ Priorat and DO Montsant SERRA MONTSANT – the name of the mountain range circumscribing the region. PRIORAT COMARCA – the council name of the region - its socio-political identity. The Comarca itself is named after the Priory at

the village of Scala Dei, on land gifted to Carthusian monks by King Fernando 1st in the 12th century.

DOQ PRIORAT – wine appellation in the centre of the Montsant range’s valley, defined by schist soils.1

DO MONTSANT – wine appellation within the Montsant range encircling DOQ Priorat, based on limestone soils.

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING PRIORAT …

90 minutes south of Barcelona, in the province of Tarragona and just 20

minutes in from the coast, Priorat and Montsant are wine regions that

ought not be discussed in isolation from one another. They are a pair of

interwoven, soil-difference-based appellations occurring together within

the Sierra Montsant, in the Comarca (regional council) of Priorat. Priorat

the area is framed by the Montsant range and contains both DOQ Priorat

and DO Montsant wine regions. It’s easiest to understand the twin wine

regions as one does an egg. If the mountain ranges are the shell, the schist

soils of the valley centre equate DOQ Priorat to the yolk surrounded by the

white, the limestone soil of DO Montsant.

We use the term the Montsant range to unify the series of mountains which virtually encircle Priorat. In fact, Montsant itself is

the northern boundary, with Serra LLaberia in the south. The south-western boundary opens to the delta of the Rio Ebro and

ultimately the Mediterranean.

The Montsant range is literally majestic. The normal entry to the region (coming from Barcelona) has you arriving in the main

town of the region, Falset, in the southern third of the area and on the cusp of the Priorat and Montsant appellations. On

approach, driving up the back of the Montsant range rising up out of the flats of Tarragona, the heart quickens. Breaching the

encircling mountains and looking over the hilly valleys within feels as if discovering an ancient, hidden land for the first time. And

so it is …

Once within, the Montsant escarpment dominates the landscape. Although we use the term valley floor, it’s very hilly

everywhere, with tight river valleys down below ancient hillside villages linked by tiny local roads which wind in and around

secondary ranges. Every corner is a blind turn, vistas appear and close off as each hill is turned past. But everywhere, the

limestone Montsant range looms, remote and watchful. The northern parts are the hilliest, highest and greenest, often

incredibly forested despite the general dryness of the region. In the south and west the hills unwind, releasing and rolling out to

the Ebro River delta and the Mediterranean.

GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE AND SOIL

Remote, sere, craggy-rocked and extremely beautiful, the Montsant range frames 500 square kilometres of mostly hill country

covered in red pines, olive, almond, hazelnut, chene and encina, all growing in soils 300-400 million years old. The limestone of

the Montsant range is cut by the Rio Siurana coming in from the East and the Rios Cortilla and Montsant from the west. The

three rivers converge at the central-western town of el Lloar and flow out southwest to join the mighty Rio Ebro as it flows down

from la Rioja and out to the Mediterranean, just 20 kilometres away. Afternoon heat is often relieved by this coastal proximity,

as Garbinada breezes freshen from the south-west.

1 Note, elsewhere you will see references to DOCa (Denominacion de Origen Calificada) Priorato, which is Spanish language, not Catalan

(Calificada instead of Qualificada, Priorato instead of Priorat). As most producers in the region identify as Catalans, not as Spanish, we use

Catalan terms and spelling where possible.

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The Montsant range is a warm, dry, hilly region perfectly suited to the local red variety, Garnacha and its running mate, Samsó.

The western part is sunnier, drier and more open land, better suited to Garnacha, and Gratallops is its main wine town. The

eastern side around Porrera is higher altitude (up to 750 metres) and fresher with tighter valleys, and is home to the finest

Samsó. Rainfall averages around 500mm, wetter in the north than the south. Being very dry, mildew and botrytis are not

problematic and about 50% of plantings are organic, although some choose to use chemicals to combat viticultural issues such as

oidium and the Lobesia moth.

The region has several soil profiles:

• Llicorella (schist-slate soils which yield rich and very mineral wines)

• Calissa (limestone, giving fresh and floral wines from very deep-rooted vines)

• Argila (clay, producing edgy and wild wines as vines battle in the dense soil)

• and Panal/Calcare (sand soils - washed out alluvium from the limestone, called

Calcares if pebbly – these give fruity, easy wines marked by chalk).

Of these, the schist and limestone are the most important, and determine the identity of the two DOs - Priorat and Montsant.

DOQ Priorat is almost pure schist (slate) soils, locally known as Llicorella, of which there are several blue and brown variants. DO

Montsant’s soils are about 70% limestone matching the heart-rock of the Sierra Montsant. The rim of the region is DO Montsant,

which wraps all the way around the schist soils of DOQ Priorat in the heart. Much of the land given to grape growing is very

steep, and the archetypal vineyards are grown ‘en Costers’: bush vines on very steep slopes.

Steep, remote mountain slopes with very old, poor soils (little more than decomposed schist), and incredibly low-yielding

century-old bush vines define a mystical Priorat. This mystique has yielded fabulous prices for some Priorat wines in the past

twenty years (less so Montsant’s wines). However this short-term view of Priorat wines, since 1989 when a group of pioneers

ventured to turn old vines producing co-op plonk into great wine, tells us little about the real past or the likely future of Priorat

and its sister-neighbour, Montsant. As with most other regions of Spain, the contemporary reality of the wines and grapes here

is in a state of flux, recovery and redefinition after a disturbed 20th century.

BASIC WINE CHARACTERISTICS – Wines that smell like suits?

There is a smoky-but-fresh mineral soil character in DOQ Priorat wines which is unique - a dominant terroir smell characteristic

enough to unify varieties as disparate as Garnacha and Cabernet in a meaningful sense as Priorats. On my first visit to Alvaro

Palacios, I asked if they had a word for this distinctive soil smell, and was told, “yes, it’s SUIT”. “Suit?” “Yes, you know - like the

dust in a chimney?” … “Aaaah, soot!” Indeed, great Priorats have a ‘sooty’ ashy mineral smell – dark, polished and fine with a

touch of freshness.

The elements:

Ripe fruit: red and black forest fruits, ripe small berries – blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, gooseberry

Balsamic: essential oils of aromatic plants carry fresh pungency of the landscape – aniseed, mint, thyme, rosemary

Mineral: soil aromas of dry stone, sand, clay, truffle, and licorice

Toast and Spice: nuts, smoked wood, incense, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon

MONTSANT: fresher character, berry and briar with florals, lifted fruit and breezier acidity

PRIORAT: Riper fruit with lots of balsamic aromatic herbs and deeply mineral

At their best, these warm country wines are relieved from outright bigness and overt warmth by the cooling effects of altitude

and minerality (and sensitive growing and winemaking). You will, however, easily find many Priorats and Montsants which are

still clumsily made, hot and muddled affairs with excess extract and oak marring their lines.

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GRAPE VARIETIES OF PRIORAT and MONTSANT

“the music, the poetry, finesse and vibrancy is in the Garnacha”

(Alvaro Palacios)

Debate persists about whether Garnacha is transplanted Grenache introduced here by French monks, or whether it is entirely of

local origin, but this is sort of irrelevant. After a thousand years of local evolution, the Garnacha of the Montsant range is entirely

adapted to the locale, and is different to Grenache elsewhere. The local Garnacha Negre has a variant called Garnacha Peluda, or

hairy Garnacha, which is in fact derived from French Grenache. However, this strain was introduced a couple of hundred years

ago and it too is highly naturalised. The other main local grape is Samsó (elsewhere known as Carignan, among other names).

Cabernet and other French red grapes have become common in recent times. There is also a small white grape presence, mainly

Garnacha Blanca.

Permitted and preferred grapes

RECOMMENDED

Garnacha, Samsó , Garnacha Blanca, Pedro Ximénez, Macabeu, Moscatel

AUTHORISED

Cabernet, Syrah, Merlot, Pinot, Viognier, Chenin Blanc

TOLERATED (JUST)

Monastrell, Chardonnay, Picpoul

In 2013, the harvest from 2000 hectares under vine in Priorat was 54 million kg, 95% of which was red. Of this, 40% was

Garnacha (Negra y Pelluda), 21% Samsó, 14% Cabernet, 11% Syrah, 7% Merlot, 3% Garnacha Blanca and 1% Macabeu with traces

of Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo, Pedro Ximenez, Xarel.lo, Viognier, various Moscatels, Chenin Blanc and Picpoul Blanc.

Garnacha and Samsó (formerly, Cariñena)

Garnacha is very widely grown throughout Spain, just like Grenache in France. It’s often used to make pleasantly fruity, off-dry

pink wines – sometimes at the high end of the alcohol spectrum. Being low in phenolic material (usually), it is well-suited to

producing café-quaffer light reds. As elsewhere, low crop levels, dry growing and old vines can produce rather more affecting

fruit, and there are a significant number of Spanish Garnachas which produce rich, dry, earthy wines with concentration,

structure and length enough to handle oak treatment and succeed as premium dry red table wines. Quality in Garnacha is closely

tied to yield. On trellises it yields too much, but careful growing en vaso or en parra (bush vines on the ground or trained on a

pole) can control yield to around 800kg/ha, for much higher quality.

Priorat Garnacha has high natural acidity, particularly tartaric, and a refreshing juice profile, with orange, blood orange and ruby

grapefruit flashes among the common rosehip, plum and red berry characteristics. The short vegetative cycle of Garnacha is well

suited to the region, where rains are common in mid-September.

A significant issue for the successful deployment of Garnacha as leading lady of Priorat wines (politics and economic trends

aside), has been the difficulty of growing it on American rootstocks. Always a shy bearer, and difficult to flower, things got

significantly worse on the most common rootstock – Rupestris du Lot. Nowadays a new hybrid, R-110 has significantly aided

flowering and therefore the economy of growing Garnacha in Priorat.

Samsó was introduced to Priorat from France in the 18th century, and has been called Cariñena until recently (it is also known as

Mazuelo in la Rioja, and Carignan in southern France). Of late, the Prioratese have reverted to the local dialect name, Samsó,

after outcry from nearby DO Cariñena, which arced up at ‘its’ name being used for a grape variety grown elsewhere (ironically,

DO Cariñena produces decidedly run-of-the-mill Garnacha). However, you will often see it referred to as Carignan, or a Catalan

linguistic variant, Caranyena. Either way, as a blender it adds structure, colour and acidity, and it can make decent straight

varietal wines, especially if dry grown and assisted by vine age. Samsó wines are nowhere near as long-lived as the local

Garnachas, but yield more generously and reliably. Since phylloxera, Samsó has virtually displaced Monastrell from Priorat wines

– once important, Monastrell is nowadays barely tolerated by the Consell Regulador and never appears on labels.

THE LONG HISTORY

Vitis Vinifera has a ‘long history’ in Spain, having adapted over a couple of thousand years in various places to produce

autochthon varieties which balance grapes according to local conditions. The weather and soil of Mallorca, along with long

adaptation in isolation gave the local Callet, perfectly balancing fruitfulness and freshness in a certain clime. Likewise, the fruit-

fresh balance achieved by Mencia in Galicia is the result of local adaptation, as is the natural balance in situ of Castile’s

Tempranillos, not to mention the Garnacha of the Montsant range, or the Monastrells of Alicante further-and-warmer south.

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In the late 19th century, Priorat and Montsant had vast historical plantings, particularly of Garnacha, but Samsó too. These locally

adapted grape cultivars were planted and pruned according to traditional knowledge acquired and refined over centuries. All

viticulture was organic, much of it biodynamic, and the best grapes grew on the poorest soils, usually up in the hills. The more

fertile soils lower down in the valleys and on the vegas (the flood plains) were reserved for cash crops – cereals, vegetables,

tobacco and so on. Then came phylloxera and the various blights of the 20th century. In 1900, after the ravages of phylloxera, the

vineyards of Priorat and Montsant were decimated, but not entirely eradicated.

RISE AND FALL, IN NUMBERS

At the advent of phylloxera in the region in 1893, DOQ Priorat was planted to about 17,000 hectares, predominantly Garnacha.

Most of this was wiped out, then replanted, and by 1940 there were around 8,000. Through the second half of the 20th century

most of this was given back to the bosque as capital fled to the cities. Priorat’s area under vine declined to a mere 750 hectares

by 1989, of which 75% was Samsó. Now there are 2,100 hectares of DOQ Priorat, and about 40% is Garnacha, with 600 growers

and 97 producers.

Adjacent DO Montsant had 10,000 hectares at the time of phylloxera, 10% of which was farmed by 2,500 peasants in the village

of Capçanes alone. After the cycle of devastation and recovery, Montsant now has 2,000 hectares under vine, 190 of which are

shared by the 75 growers of the Capçanes co-op (the village now reduced to a population of 400). In 1990, DOQ Priorat and DO

Montsant combined had 10 bottling wineries, by 2009 this had risen to 133. The Comarca del Priorat now totals 4,100 hectares

of vines, down from a peak of 27,000, with an overall population of 10,000 where once lived 35,000.

THE TERRIBLE 20TH CENTURY

Re-planting in the early 20th century on American rootstocks saw a quick recovery from the devastation of phylloxera. By 1930

the historical genetic material and associated planting patterns had been re-established – the patrimony of the land, the ‘long

history’ of Vitis Vinifera adapting in this place, was partially restored. This was de-railed by the Catholic-Military collaboration’s

initiation of Civil War and their ensuing Fascist regime, which officially ended in 1978. Economic recovery and restoration of

social unity took time – for example, the Priests were still shopping Republicans to the Generals, who continued to shoot them

into the early 1980s, despite the official end of the regime and transition to democracy in 1978. Spain in general, and its wine

culture in particular, began to recover by the mid-1980s.

During the half-century of Fascist rule after the Civil War, a number of ills befell wine regions such as Priorat and Montsant2.

Economic pressures favoured volume over quality: plantings tended toward the more fertile soils and towards higher cropping

varieties - toward the reliable big-colour, big-yield Samsó rather than the more fickle Garnacha. Socio-economic pressures also

devalued country life, and youth were forced to go to seek work in the army, the mines and the cities. De-population and

economic depression saw plantings diminish in quantity along with lower quality.

Priorat and Montsant were dominated by high-volume co-op production. Quality estate-bottled wine was virtually absent from

the scene (bottlings of Scala Dei first took place in 1971) and remained rare until the resurgence of the 1990s. But the wines of

the region were not only diminished in quality terms – despite the focus on high yield production through the 20th century, the

amount of land under vine diminished dramatically, as enumerated earlier. Even today, Priorat is only planted at about 20% of

its historical level and Montsant around 10%.

By the late 1980s, the drift from historical practices based on the best locally adapted genetic material had become profound.

Eventually, the slumber lifted and Spain’s best young winemakers - critical about the chemical-industrial present - got curious

about what might be recovered from the past, and a re-building and re-imagining began.

By the beginning of the 21st century, when Spanish wine had regained a degree of international prominence, it was from a

curious amalgam of the very recent and the very ancient. All around Spain in the 1980s and 1990s, a handful of brave, energetic

and insightful wine people peeled back the layers of 20th century loss and decline and rediscovered, re-interpreted and re-

conditioned the past. While there is a great deal of dull, technical, international, industrial wine produced in Spain, the fine

wines of Spain are a combination of remnants of very old genetic material which survived from the 19th century along with new

2 20th century ills plagued the Spanish wine scene in general. Phylloxera, the Civil War, the hollowing out of the countryside (both depopulation

and de-valuation of produce), inappropriate planting of high yield varieties in fertile soils, industrial winemaking, chemical agriculture … the

20th century blew the patrimony of two thousand years’ worth of evolution and lore. That most of Spain’s historical legacy of genetic

adaptation was devalued during the 20th century did not see it entirely lost or forgotten, however. In all parts of Spain, here and there in the

poor soils high up in the hills, the old ways and the old plantings persisted, often only making ordinary house wine perhaps, but present and

intact. It just needed to be embraced and brought to the forefront once more. At least, the advent of chemical farming in the second half of

the 20th century was less of an influence in Priorat than elsewhere.

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plantings in “the right places” of historically adapted genetic material. Without doubt, Priorat is the foremost example of this

redemptive shift.

THEN CAME ‘THE PRIORAT FIVE’

One of the most important ‘moments’ in Spanish wine history came in 1989, when a group of five converged in Priorat with the

intention of preserving and re-interpreting the old vines of Priorat. Alvaro Palacios, then a young winemaker who had grown up

in Rioja and trained in Pomerol, ventured into Priorat with Rene Barbier, who worked at the time for Alvaro’s father Jose at

Palacios Remondo in Alfaro, Rioja. Rene and Alvaro led a group which also including Daphne Glorian, Jose Luis Perez and Carles

Pastrana. Sourcing neglected old vines from the hilltops of Priorat, these five made a single garage wine together in both 1989

and 1990 and bottled a fifth each under their own labels:

• Alvaro’s eponymous label, ‘Alvaro Palacios’ (originally ‘Clos Dofi’)

• Rene Barbier’s ‘Clos Mogador’

• Jose Luis Perez’s ‘Clos Martinet’

• Daphne Glorian’s ‘Clos Erasmus’

• and Carles Pastrana’s ‘Clos de L’Obac’ (nowadays, ‘Costers del Siurana’).

Much of import spun out from this moment. Much of it good, although for a time it seemed the initial boon might quickly

become a blight. “The Five’s” first releases were embraced wholeheartedly by wine blogger Robert Parker Junior. Big Parker

Points meant big $$ in the US and there was now a “Priorat Boom”. Going from ultra-low-value co-op plonk to US-hyper-bucks in

about 5 minutes, the value of Priorat fruit was renewed instantly. Founding the DOQ in 1999 effectively wiped out the grey

market for DO Catalunya wines made from Priorat (and Montsant) fruit, which was now bound by a rule that 95% of production

must be grow and bottled in the DO. It also let to a crass rush to mine Parker points from the slate.

“by the late 1990s, "the football stars, the singers, Gerard Depardieu - all the people nobody needs - were in Priorat because it

was hip and they could show off that they could afford to buy a winery in Priorat …"

(Jurgen Wagner, Celler Capcanes)

Predictably, this lead to an instant “investment” wave and every man and his banker took to Priorat like a new el Dorado – only

here one mined for Parker Points. Damn, man, they were virtually lying on the ground! The minute the low-crop old-vine

mountain Garnacha was ‘discovered’ in Priorat, a fool’s gold rush ensued. Large companies came and bought up tracts of land,

cutting new terraces and planting broad-acres on trellis … and for a decade it seemed that precisely in the moment that Priorat

was found, it would also lost. The influx of big-Capital broadacre producers was shortlived, however, and Priorat has largely

settling into the hand-crafted small-maker mode which seems to best fit the difficult sites for the niggardly-yielding vines which

suit these poor soils.

“THERE ARE NO HECTOLITRES IN PRIORAT”

A handy line given by one of Priorat’s current producers helps tie up the short version of the Priorat story. Big Company,

industrial farming is ill-suited here. But to triumphantly hold out that Priorat is a natural home to the small, organic, artisan

farmer and that its reality is wonderful old vine mountain Garnacha is a little indulgent, however. For starters, there was actually

very little old vine mountain Garnacha left when Alvaro and The Five descended. Alvaro’s astonishing vineyard ‘L’Ermita’ is in fact

the largest such chunk in existence, and it’s only just over a hectare in size. Whereas prior to phylloxera Priorat was planted to

17,000 hectares and most of this was the local Garnacha, less than 800 hectares were left in 1989 and most of this was Samsó.

Priorat, the myth, was established.

Priorat’s future will entail significant and ongoing labours to re-interpret the past and establish a future which reworks all that

went wrong in the 20th century. Twenty-odd years since the advent of The Five, the terms of engagement are clearer, but by no

means resolved. Much re-planting of local cultivars has taken place, as has much parallel planting of French varieties. Wonderful

wines have been made, but far more have featured clunky oaking and extractive practices (no doubt in part as a result of

shameless pandering the extract+oak metrics which govern Parker Points). Young vines are gaining maturity, and all else – good,

bad and questionable – that has taken place since 1989 is once more slowly gaining historical depth and perspective.

MEANWHILE, IN MONTSANT … (ENTER THE POST-MODERN CO-OP)

Meanwhile, literally across the road … In the southern part of the range, near the main town of the region, Falset, one crosses

from slate to limestone soils and from DOQ Priorat to DO Montsant. While instant fortune came to Priorat, the poor farmers of

Montsant, typified by the Capçanes co-op, were doing it rather tougher than their suddenly famous neighbours.

In 1933, five families in Capçanes village joined together to found a co-op and make wines from the vineyards being re-

established after phylloxera. However, this development was almost immediately followed by the Civil War, during which time

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political divisions were felt within the village, even within families - a fragmentation which really only saw a process of

forgiveness and healing start after Franco's death in 1975 and the restoration of democracy in 1978. Beyond this, the

devaluation of grape/wine prices, de-population and the move towards mines, the army and the city for the youth of the

countryside were multiple hits during the mid-20th century, on top of the ills of war. The almost terminal descent in the fortune

of the Capçanes co-op tells the general tale of DO Montsant perfectly. It even has a happy ending …

By the 1980s and Spain's ascension to the EU, Capçanes and its co-op were in dire trouble. Increasingly, city wine merchants

bought in bulk and cashed in at the coast. By 1980 the region was only producing bulk wines. By the mid-90s, they could only sell

grapes in bulk – not even being afforded the relative dignity of being able to turn their grapes into wine (which would then be

sold under another’s name). The big company producers of wines labelled DO Penedes and DO Catalunya gained colour, extract,

power and character for very little money. By now, the biggest of these companies, Torres, were buying up all the land they

could, particularly in Priorat, while land values remained relatively low and wine prices were exploding. There was a very real

fear for the growers of Capçanes that soon they would not even be able to sell grapes in bulk. Economic extinction loomed in

Montsant while boom-time erupted in Priorat.

And then, something great happened! A Rabbi and a German helped the Capçanes Catalans save themselves in the nick of time.

German winemaker Jurgen Wagner was working in the region as a wine-buyer for US importer Eric Solomon and saw the

potential of the old vines of Capçanes, but it took a crazy twist to achieve the needed change. This came in the form of the Rabbi

of Barcelona. Said Rabbi was looking to source a high quality Kosher wine for wealthy Barcelonan Jews, and the old vines of

Capçanes were just the thing. Jurgen, along with the co-op’s winemaker Angel Teixido, persuaded the 85 growers in the co-op to

take a risk and provide their best, low-crop old-vine fruit to the Rabbi. In 1995 the first ‘lo mebushal’ Kosher wine was made by

the Rabbi (in accordance with Jewish law, the Rabbi was the only one allowed to handle the wine). In 1996, the second vintage

of Peraj Ha’abib somehow found its way into Parker’s hands, and it was rated behind L’Ermita and Pingus as Spain’s highest

pointed wine!

Thus, in 1996 the Capçanes co-op stopped selling its top fruit cheaply, instead value-adding it in their Kosher wine, realising their

holdings’ full value for the first time. Torres responded by cancelling their orders for bulk grapes entirely. Capçanes were,

officially, screwed.

Or were they? With no real option, they plunged into the deep end … a vote was taken and all but two of the growers elected to

follow the urging of Jurgen and Angel. Capçanes become a ‘post-modern co-op’ making export quality wine bottled under the

brand ‘Celler Capçanes’. These wines were to be viticulturally-driven, based on rigorous yield management and fruit selection

from marvellous dry-grown old bush-vines. Make less but better wine and make more money (while controlling your own

destiny), was the plan. Celler Capçanes wines began finding their own way to market – grown, made and bottled estate-style by

the collective. A second, equally daring risk soon followed, with all 82 growers (by now, this number included Jurgen Wagner and

Angel Teixido) co-signing to a capital-raising bank loan necessary to build a clean, modern winemaking cellar. This was an

extraordinary risk on the part of extremely poor peasant farmers – a desperate leap of faith, which has paid off wonderfully.

Nowadays, Capçanes produces several tiers of wine. There is decent quality cheap bag-in-box wines, there’s quite decent co-op

plonk you can buy at the cellar door and take home in whatever vessel you bring to fill, and there are about 250,000 bottles of

high quality export 'estate' wine. How ironic, Jurgen says that "narrow-minded Catholic mountain farmers would invest in the

Jewish community to save themselves from Torres!"

And so, from the late 1990s, thanks to the remarkable occurrences at the co-op of Capçanes, Montsant began to re-energise and

to recover economically, and achieved independent DO status in 2000. Prior to 2000, Montsant wines were appellated as a part

of the giant DO Tarragona and recognised as a sub-section, called Zona Falset (albeit there was very little Montsant wine bottled

as such until the advent of Capçanes in its revolutionary guise from 1996). While DO Montsant still lives somewhat in the shadow

of DOQ Priorat, it is much re-invigorated now - led by Celler Capçanes, but with many emergent independent grower-makers

entering the scene. Montsant, like Priorat, is beginning to re-interpret and write its own history as it moves through the early

part of the 21st century.

PRIORAT INTO THE 21st CENTURY (and the unlikely progressiveness of the Consell Regulador)

Compared to other DOs in Spain, Priorat is blessed with a relatively progressive official body (unlike the Consejo Reguladors of

Ribera del Duero, Rias Baixas and Rioja, who are slaves to the big industrial producers). Priorat became an official appellation in

1954, just the year after Rioja, and was confirmed at the (supposedly) higher and more rigorous classification, DOQ in 2000. The

Consell Regulador is in the relatively remote central village of Torroja, one of the 9 official wine villages of Priorat.

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Just one example of the ‘right-thinking’ ways of CRDOQ Priorat is their legalisation of place names for Priorat wine. It’s the height

of industrial wine absurdity in Spain that village naming is illegal. Spanish wine law says, “No Village Naming Here - we don’t

believe in place, except at the most generic level”.

Think of Burgundy and try doing so without evoking village names like Gevrey-Chambertin, Fixin and co. Likewise, the Mosel

without Wehlen or Graach. Or Barolo without wandering from La Morra through the other 4 villages of the region’s hilltops,

tasting their marvellously differentiated offerings. Spanish wine law, however, generally prohibits use of specific place names. As

a mate of mine, Oscar says: “Rioja is a bit like going to Burgundy and finding there is only AC Bourgogne!” It was not always so: in

the mid-20th century, it was common to name wines by their village – in my cellar I have a 1959 from Bodegas Age which has the

village name Fuenmayor at 3 times the font size of their own bodega name. However, the ongoing decline of Spanish wine

through the 20th century led to the big companies being able to co-opt the regulatory bodies, and the Consejo Reguladors all too

often do the bidding of big capital to the detriment of the small, specific and beautiful.

DOQ Priorat, however, have bucked this trend. In 2007, they brought in a major reform of their laws, aimed specifically at

recognising sub-regional specificity in their wines on a village-by-village basis. There are 12 sub-regional ‘Vi de la Villa’

appellations now legal, taken from the official 9 Villages of Priorat, plus 3 Montsant villages whose municipalities contain

discrete parcels of schist soils designated as Priorat turf. So, nowadays, if you have vineyards within a certain village municipality

within DOQ Priorat, say Gratallops, and your wine is entirely grown, made and bottled within the municipal bounds of this

village, you may release your wine as DOQ Priorat – Vi de la Vila Gratallops. Furthermore, if your wine is from a single vineyard

entirely within a village boundary, you may release it as a Vi de Finca - a specific vineyard within this Vi de Vila. Not all vineyards

are created equal however, and the viticultor must apply to the Consell Regulador to have their Vi de Finca recognised as a

significant ‘Cru’.

These Vins de la Vila must be 100% grown within the named village area, and a minimum of 60% must be Garnacha and/or

Samsó. Some of these Vins de la Vila also require that the fruit is grown as Vinya en Coster – bush-vines grown on hilltop schist.

Furthermore, if your wine is from a single vineyard entirely within a village boundary, you may release it as a Vi de Finca - a

specific vineyard within this Vi de Vila. Not all discrete vineyards are created equal however, and the viticultor must apply to the

Consell Regulador to have their Vi de Finca recognised as a significant Cru.

In between Village Wines and Vineyard Wines, a third geographical indicator is also possible, which are Vins de la Partida. A

Partida is a historically recognised toponym for a discrete and relatively uniform section of the land around a village … say the

western slope of a significant hillside, from hilltop down to river glade. In France such are called lieux-dits.

In the North are the Vins de la Vila d’Escaladei, la Morera de Montsant and Poboleda.

The Vins de la Vila of central Priorat are: Torroja del Priorat, la Vilella Alta, la Vilella Baixa and Porerra.

In the south, Gratallops is the hub of Priorat, and keeps company with Vins de la Villa de Lloar, Bellmunt de Priorat, dels Masos

de Falset and les Solanes del Molar.

Note that the last two, Falset and el Molar are Montsant villages which have significant parcels of recognised Priorat schist

terroir in their municipality. And the ancient Priory at Scala Dei, while not technically a village, is nevertheless afforded a Vi de la

Vila appellation.

While on the topic of the villages themselves, and the question of visiting this stunning area, it’s worth noting that the Comarca

del Priorat – the regional council – has done marvellous work in facilitating a burgeoning and exceptionally well-judged eco-

agriturismo industry. In particular, there are the Camis of Priorat – ancient pathways through valleys and over mountains which

join all of the villages. Once derelict, these wild walking trails are now properly restored, mapped and sign-posted, allowing

serious walkers to explore the region from village-to-village, uphill and over dale, away from the roads entirely. Dry and rocky,

Priorat is naturally stunning and you will be moved by the place, especially if you take the chance to go slowly and breathe along

with it. Priorat is laced with great eating houses too – a few of them fancy, but my favourites are very simple, local and

traditional rustic diners of little pretence and enormous charm.

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Descendientes de J. Palacios (DJP), D.O. Bierzo Ricardo Perez Palacios and Alvaro Palacios el BIERZO

Bierzo is in the north-western continental province of Leon (the mid-north is

usually referred to as Castile y Leon, with Leon separating the larger province

of Castile from Galicia). Bierzo is a basin surrounded by four distinct mountain

ranges, from which a number of rivers (most notably the Sil) carve their way

west, draining central Spain to the Coast via the ‘low rivers’ (Rias Baixas) of

Galicia. Along with the Sil, which flows west from Ponferrada, there is also Rio

Cua, emanating from Cacabelos and Rio Burbia from Vilafranca del Bierzo.

Rising from the valley floor are clay-dirt hillslopes, and surrounding these at

the perimeter of the valley are mountain slopes with mineral soils. The region

is green and mountainous, with chestnut forests facing to the north and south-

facing exposures given to viticulture. Bierzo is also historically famous as one

of the traditional stops along the ‘pilgrimage’ route of the superstitious to Santiago de Compostela.

DO BIERZO – HONORARY GALICIANS

Although politically a part of continental Spain, in wine logic we align Bierzo with the Galician-Atlantic DOs, on the basis of two

inter-related continuities. Firstly, the River Sil (which later joins the Miño) defines the main wine regions of Galicia, and this river

originates in Bierzo. Secondly, along the course of the Miño, climatic changes define the natural order of Vitis Vinifera

throughout Galicia, beginning with the Godello and Mencia of Bierzo. As one follows the river west, downhill from the

continental heights of Bierzo, eventually arriving at sea-level in the Atlantic DO of Rias Baixas, decreasing continentality

progressively alters the conditions which determine the best variety of each region. Bierzo, atop the river has the most

continental climate (the greatest amount of daytime solar radiation), and a corresponding high diurnal temperature range, with

the coolest nights. This daytime warmth is the maximum that Mencia can manage – further east into the extreme continentality

of Rioja and Ribera del Duero the daytime sun is too much – Mencia becomes sloppy-soft with chocolatey tannins and too little

acidity – cool nights cannot save what is lost during the day.

BIERZO’S WINE HISTORY

Bierzo has two millennia of history in wine production, dating back to the Roman occupation (1st-4th centuries AD). After all this

time, the economy of the area was closely tied to the grape, but the late-19th century advent of phylloxera interrupted all this.

After phylloxera, 40% of the population migrated from the area. Re-planting on American rootstocks, at first in locations based

on historical memory and lore saw 30% of the area renewed with its historical genetic material, but further difficulties arose

from 1935 after the Civil War. As the region got poorer, plantings shifted down into the valleys on rich soils. Non-local varieties,

particularly Palomino, were planted for their high yields, closely followed by the advent of industrial fertilisers. The old varieties

and ways were lost, and a 50 year black age persisted until the late 80s, when a philosophical re-birth slowly emerged.

Nowadays, as the region reverts to its native Mencia and Godello, there are 4500 hectares planted, 90% red, mainly in small

plots of 400-800 square metres. The main local grape is Mencia. The white Godello is also important, and there’s a little

Garnacha Tintorera (aka the pink-fleshed Alicante Bouchet) and traces of another 20 local varieties, mostly red. Historically, the

white varieties were blended in with the reds to make ‘Clarete’ – light, fruity reds with around a quarter white grapes. These

were the typical local wines for a long while – not just here in Bierzo, but in Ribera del Duero and Rioja too.

SOILS AND SITES

In Bierzo, there are three main vineyard locations – the fertile valley floor, intermediate hill-slopes of red clay dirt, and mineral

soils based on mountain schist soil. The better sites in the hills and mountains range in altitude from 500 to over 1000 metres.

No good wine comes from Bierzo’s valley floor, however no necessary discrimination should exist between the hillside material

and the mountain gear. Both are capable of excellence, depending on orientation (south-facing mountain slopes are a warmer

site promoting softer Mencia than a north-facing hillside), and clay is cooler than schist. Along with the complex terroir, altitude

and aspect options, keep in mind that Bierzo is a fundamentally mixed continental-Atlantic climate.

The oldest vines are in the mountain slopes, and these vineyards are where the heritage material of Bierzo is to be found.

Although most of Bierzo was wiped out by phylloxera, and most of the rest was debased by the practices of the 20th century,

some vineyards in the high parts were re-planted by massale selection from the scattered survivors of phylloxera, and these are

a direct link to Vitis Vinifera’s long history of evolution in situ. Vineyards such as those of DJP claim a direct historical continuity

with this legacy, and are the source of an authentic renewal of Bierzo. The intermediate slopes – the clay hills of the valley,

however, are mostly younger, planted during the rebirth of the 80s and 90s. Some of this is planted to industrial clones from

local nurseries, some of it to heritage material sourced from the mountains.

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MENCIA (men-see-ah)

Sweet, smokey, bloody, vegetal, tangy, earthy, silky, cherry, plum fruits and flowers, tobacco, meat,

hung meat, roasted meat, flowers in blood in soft sweet earth, floral, mineral, ashy, fleshy.

Mencia is native to the north-west of Spain – both Continental Leon and Atlantic-influenced Galicia. There's some association

between Mencia and the Cabernet family – locally, the variety is often referred to colloquially as 'Medoc', and Mencia is clonally

linked by DNA to Cabernet Franc. However, Mencia is best conceived as a local, autochthonous variety. There’s nothing at all

Bordeaux-like about it when well handled: you’re more likely to see something that looks like a cross between Cornas (wild,

spicey Northern Rhone syrah) and top-end Burgundy. Bloody meat, inky-juby fruits, rose and violet florals, forest floor, tobacco

and dried herbs are common varietal features. The standout of the great examples is a long, fine, extremely silky thread of fruit

tannin all the way down the palate. The tannins of Mencia can be its Achilles heel, though. Many examples over-extract the

tannin which, multiplied by old vine character, effects a reduction on the palate.

As well as suffering low acidity, Mencia is highly susceptible to botrytis, which is a constant risk with the tendency for autumn to

be very wet, as with heavy September rains sweep in from the Atlantic up the Rio Sil. Green harvests are often necessary and

grape selection at the sorting table is super-important. Altitude, low yield, vine age and careful maturation of fruit tannin can all

be very successful collaborative mitigators of the variety’s low-acid nature. At their best, a feature is a long, fine, extremely silky

thread of fruit tannin all the way down the palate, but too often still you will see round, under-defined wines with soupy tannins,

little acid and too much planky oak in play for faux structure.

Mencia exists in a narrow bubble of possibility, stretched along a 90-minute drive down the River Sil from Bierzo. If the

continental daytime temperatures of Bierzo stretch the ability of Mencia to maintain sufficient acidity, the more moderate

daytime temperature of DO Ribeira Sacra downstream is barely enough to ripen tannins. Where chocolatiness is the risk in

Bierzo, just 100km west unripe, green and herbal wines are most likely. Note that since they purchased Las Lamas in 1999 and

commenced re-generation work, Ricardo and Alvaro have identified 8 distinct local families of Mencia.

THE WINES OF DJP

DJP Mencias are produced at several levels:

• a regional Bierzo wine – Pétalos, which blends mountain fruit from above Corullón with that of the clay hill-slopes rising

out of the valley floor, mainly around the village of Cacabelos

• a village wine, Corullón, summarising many tiny component parcels of schist-grown Mencia from the mountain slopes

above the eponymous village, and

• single-vineyard bottlings from three special parcels above Corullón: Moncerbal, Las Lamas and La Faraona.

The mountain vineyards for Corullón, including Moncerbal, Las Lamas and La Faraona are very small plots grown at 600-1000

metres altitude. All are based on a minerally slate – some featuring clay and others chalk, with traces of granite and a complex

range of metals and minerals. Alvaro and Ricardo have 40 hectares above Corullón made up of over 200 parcels (so an average

plot would be just about 200 square metres!), and all based in organic-biodynamic viticulture. There were two other single-

vineyards released in earlier years, namely Fontelas and San Martin, but these have ceased, with Ricardo and Alvaro

preferencing quality fruit to the village wine, Corullón. A vineyard such as Moncerbal will see some fruit go into Pétalos, more

into Corullón, with a small portion bottled as single site material. The resultant wines are fresh, fragrant and deep – juicy, lively

and silky. The wines display gamey elements along with ravishing florals. Round and long fruit tannins are always a feature.

THE 2012 VINTAGE

2012 was started by a remarkably mild, warm-and-dry winter, which lead to a very early commencement of the vegetation cycle.

Frosts and spring rains played havoc with the young shoots, but a mild and humid summer stabilised matters. Nevertheless,

going into the harvest, the maturation variances from plot to plot were nightmarish. Harvest ranged over six weeks from mid-

September, a relatively late start. Wild boars feasted on Moncerbal and Las Lamas just before harvest on October 19, further

testing Ricardo’s patience. Nevertheless, vivid and elegant 2012s resulted from the great pains taken to harvest at the right time.

THE 2011 VINTAGE

2011 is similar in overall feel, quality and flavour to the 2010s, but gives easier wines thanks to 2011’s naturally forward phenolic

development - softer, more open and expressive already. The harvest featured perfect climatology, all was clean and natural

with no problems. Ricardo reckons with Bierzo that picking time is everything, and that they nailed the timing in 2011.

Fermentations were cool, just 25 degrees under the cap and less further down in the wine, and ran over 18 days. The wines were

then macerated for a couple of months.

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DJP ‘Petalos’, regional blend Mencia

Pétalos is the regional expression of Mencia from Bierzo. It’s mainly mountain mineral material

(including de-classified material from the single vineyards), plus 20% high quality gear from clay

hill-slopes below Corullón. Petalos is drawn from nearly 900 plots in the region - 200 owned by

Ricardo and Alvaro, and the rest leased from 175 growers. Gently made in order to preserve acidity

(the first and last consideration when handling Mencia), there are 5 days of gentle pigeage, with

little pumping over. Depending on the year, DJP retain as much as 50% of the stems if they are

suitably ripe. Maceration takes place for a month or so in a very cool cellar, with malo in tank

before ageing in barrel. Aged 12 months in large older French oak (1-6 years old. Egg-white fining

takes place only in hot years, and the wine is given a modest 1 micron filter to lighten and brighten.

DJP ‘Petalos’ Mencia 2012

Lashings of field herb, red lavender, violet, fresh clay dirt and nicely moderated fruit in a choc-blackberry register. Round, pretty

and fresh with nice earthy tannins. Prominent dark schist rocks feature in the palate’s perfume and feel.

DJP ‘Corullón’, village Mencia

Corullón is the summation of 210 tiny parcels of fruit grown from the cold metal-mineral soils on

the mountain slopes (500-1000 metres altitude) above the village of Corullón. Vine age is 50-90

years. These organic vineyards are un-irrigated and bio-dynamically farmed by hand and horse.

Fermentation is in small wooden vats (foudre), and the wine is bottled unfiltered after 14 months'

maturation in French oak – the first half in new wood, then in a mix of 2-3 yo barriques, hogsheads,

some foudre and clay vats. About 50% of stems are retained, with just a little, gentle pigeage;

fermentation and maceration go for a little more than two months. No pumping, no filtering or

fining. 20 parts free/45 parts total sulphur. Contains traces of field blend whites - Palomino, Godello, Valenciana.

DJP ‘Corullón’ Mencia 2012

Meat, blood, flowers, violet and dark rocky earth – the whole Bierzo Mencia package is right there on the nose, backed up by

scrubby herbs. Throughout, is the ever-present cold dark slate, nuanced with hung meat, choc-edged, with touches of kelp, anise,

plum and rose flowers. The palate has gorgeous ripe tannin and a lovely juicy lift with snappy field herb cut. There is a sense of

controlled volume – the feel is precise but not strict, and the finish is satisfying and elegant.

DJP ‘Corullón’ Mencia 2011

Pure, with red cherry, wild spice and a complex perfume - wild strawberry, mulberry, wildflowers, pickled cherry, violets and lilac

over fennel, smokey meat, moss, forest floor and cold charcoal. The dark, meaty-mineral palate is deep, silky and sumptuous,

driven by fine tannin. It has flesh and concentration, but line and focus equally, with good acid balance to finish.

DJP ‘Moncerbal’, Vino de Partida

From Sufreiro, an 0.86 hectare section of the Moncerbal hillside, facing

south-southwest above the village of Corullón, at above 750m, with vines

around 100 years' age. Rocky slate with silica. Fermented in small open

wooden vats (old 1200 litre foudre), aged 14 months in new French

barriques. Unfiltered; production total: 8 barrels. (Sufreiro is the Galician

name for the cork oak.)

DJP ‘Moncerbal’ Mencia 2012

Cranberry and Regaliz (licorice) leads a nose filled out sweet purple flowers, velvet curtains and ash.

It’s a very fine and settled wine to smell. The palate is round but not overly glyceric, featuring

lingering pastille fruits set in a crystalline structure and mouthfeel with very elegant tannin.

Cranberry, ash and violet yield to licorice at back.

DJP ‘Moncerbal’ Mencia 2011

Forest berries run around in a wonderfully complex and pretty nose with rosehip, blackberry cane, oriental rose and cold dark

rock. The palate just makes you go ‘wow’! Fluid with lots of gorgeous tannin, it is focused but not intense. A delicious and easy

drink, its varietal cast is classical and perfect, with lovely after-palate perfume.

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DJP ‘Las Lamas’, vino de Partida

From 0.54 hectares of south-west-facing slope on the hill named Las Lamas above

Corullón, comprised of 60, 90 and 100 year old patches of vines. It’s perilously

steep, seeming to hang from the road’s edge (below 750 metres’ altitude). Las

Lamas features a little clay, granite and quartz in the typical mountain light brown

and pale grey slate mineral soils. There’s about 1% of Alicante Bouchet field-

blended in the Mencia of Las Lamas, which has the longest sun exposure of the

three single sites. Oak etc as for Moncerbal. Unfiltered, 5 barrels.

DJP ‘Las Lamas’ Mencia 2012

RPP: “This is the year for Las Lamas”. Well, it’s a magical wine, so deft that it seems light. Deep and

earthy, the nose is meaty and dark-set, leavened by a touch of bitter green herb and a granite-fresh

back note. Cranberry fruit and mineral tannin, spice and fine acidity give dance to a carnal, purply

fruit palate, nicely plush over silty earth.

DJP ‘Las Lamas’ Mencia 2011

A liquorous deep cherry and bramble rose nose. The soft red fruit-floral set lifts over husky dark spice and concentrated depth.

More dense and savoury than the delicacy of Moncerbal, the gently rich fruit works slowly through the mouth thanks to the

typical solid tannin of Lamas, which engenders a great sense of earthiness in the wine. Voluminous without heft.

DJP ‘La Faraona’, Cru Mencia

A single parcel on a tectonic-volcanic fault and laden with nuclear minerals. With

its shallow basalt bedrock, La Faraona is the highest hill in Corullón, ranging from

855 metres at the bottom of the vineyard to 975 metres at the top. Very steep,

south-east facing, planted to 65 year old vines which struggle in just 30cm of

(volcanic basalt, titanium etc) soil and with only morning sun for succour. Grey,

pale brown slate with quartz. Only worked (tilled by mule) one year in three. It

was 50% Palomino when Ricardo and Alvaro purchased it, but this rogue variety is

now just a trace along with a little Alicante Bouchet in field blend. Fermented in

new 600 litre French oak, unfiltered, with total production of up to 2 barrels. In

2009, they had to cooper a special ¼ barrel to approximate a second barrel after a

full first barrique!

DJP ‘La Faraona’ Mencia 2012

This year there is a 450 litre barrel and a 75 litre pup, totalling 525 litres production. Very herbal,

with purple florals, pimiento and the smell of old wood in the tannin, savoury with meaty red fruit.

The palate has great tannin weight, but with lots of dance, as it’s slashed through with glinting

minerals.

DJP ‘La Faraona’ Mencia 2011

Forest strawberry, smoky red fruits and slate on a nose that’s dark, deep-set, run through with dried field herbs and lifted by

mineral freshness. There’s the smell of velvet, brambles and stone, and more brambles and stone. The palate is marked by

fabulous liquid tannins. Despite a great deal of impact, the wine flows up and out in the mouth, effortless already.