When we open a bottle of wine of Priorat, a different magic surrounds us. If we pour, smell and taste this wine, we feel the whole magic that transfers to our bodies.
But where does this magic come from?
The Priory contains in its landscape and in its vineyards a mystery, and the result is a different type of wine, like all wines that come from a major wine region in the world.
It all began in 1194, when the from the Provence coming Carthusian monks settled down and founded the Carthusian order Escaladei, just at the place where there was a tree, and from which, according to the monks, a stairway led up to the sky.
They were experienced winegrowers, and they created the conditions for a unique wine-growing, in a unique landscape. During a long time the wine was the economic base of the region.
After the phylloxera plague that befell Europe beginning of XX century, the Priorat remained deserted … the people left this area that became poorer. The people left behind the fields, and went to the cities to work in factories.
This left very few bodegas, and some cooperatives. Undoubtedly one of the most difficult moments for the Priorat.
But after much effort it was in 1974 when the Bodega Scala Dei bottled there the first Priorat. Undoubtedly a major challenge. The other mythical Bodega that has bottled there was Masía Barril, now named Mas d’En Gil.
Two different styles to produce a wine: the first is fermented on its lees, the second uses no wood for the ageing … Where they perhaps visionaries?
Several years later, come to Priorat a group of young winemakers, led by Rene Barbier, who already knew the district, and who believed in its great potential.
Among them stood five out: Rene Barbier, Alvaro Palacios, Daphne Glorian, Josep Lluís Pérez and Carles Pastrana, who launched on the market in 1989 a wine called CLOS.
Then, as surely all know, the wine L’Ermita stands out at an auction, and from then the Priorat had a comeback.
Some people say that the price is too high, but if you take a look at the hillsides on which the wines are planted, the very low production of the wines, the climate in this area, you will understand that in the Priorat you just can not only speak over the price.
It is a land ownership that attracts like a magnet. You need a special character to work and live in the Priorat, but the area also gives back many things.
And then you open a bottle, taste it, and the magic captures you.
