Priorat

DOQ Priorat
History
The place name Priorat has been linked to the concept of wine for centuries. The sum of a soil, a climate, an orography and the work of men and women who have made it following the techniques of a millennial tradition with the help, today, of a technology adapted to the requirements of the quality, they have given an authentic, exclusive product: the Priorat wine.

The Carthusian Monastery of Scala Dei represents the historical cradle of wines and viticulture of the Priorat Qualified Designation of Origin. The Carthusian monks brought from Provence, in the twelfth century, the knowledge and techniques to develop a viticulture that was strongly rooted and has evolved over the centuries. The domains of the Carthusian Monastery formed the so-called historic Priorat, which today coincides with the wine region of the DOQ Priorat. The Carthusians of Scala Dei cultivated the vineyard and made wine in the Carthusian monastery, following a school of work and spirituality. Perhaps the Priorat is a mystical wine.

For almost 1000 years, nine small villages have been hidden among the slate slopes that are scattered at the foot of the Montsant mountain range. Its inhabitants, always viticulturists, modeled the land with margins. After the Law of Mendizábal (1835), thanks to a great effort and the increasing development of the vineyard the viticulturists recovered their dignity.
Territory
The DOQ Priorat forms a compact and well-defined landscape unit, made up of the large mountain amphitheater that extends at the foot of the Sierra de Montsant, due to the slate lithology of its slopes and the treatment that has always been given in the agricultural field, which has remained almost intact until recently.

The orography of this area means that the vineyard has to be cultivated on slopes with such steep slopes that, in some cases, it is necessary to build terraces.

The landscape generated by these vineyards is one of the characteristic features of the Priorat that give it such a strong personality.
Much of the territory of the DOQ Priorat enjoys some type of landscape protection, whether as a Special Plan of Natural Interest (PEIN); Natura 2000 Network; or as part of the territory included in the Serra de Montsant Natural Park.

The DOQ Priorat has cataloged 100% of the territory in accordance with its own conditions for the planting of the vineyard.
Varieties
The varieties recommended and those authorized in the Priorat Qualified Designation of Origin are the following:

Recommended red varieties: Red Grenache and Carignan.

Authorized red varieties: hairy Grenache, Tempranillo, Red Picapoll, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Syrah.

White varieties: White Grenache, Macabeo, Pedro Ximénez, Chenin, Alexandria Muscat, Small Grain Muscat, Pansal, White Picapoll and Viognier.

Grenache and Carignan, stars of a select range of varieties

The most cultivated varieties in Prioratare the red ones, with the Carignan and the Grenache as the most outstanding autochthonous varieties.