The Priorat Rebirth Story: From Abandoned to Acclaimed
– Where Vineyards Make a Comeback Despite Adversity
My mind still gets captivated by the Priorat region of Spain I visited in the fall of 2021. I can clearly visualize being in the passenger seat of our rental car, driving through the mega steep undulating hills, nose glued to the side window, trying to get a better view of the rugged vineyards, a better look at the abandoned vines overtaken by forest. Out the front window, a wider perspective – I am in awe.
This post is in a sense Part 2 to an article that I wrote prior to my Substack days, when I dabbled with writing during my WSET Diploma studies.
Priorat, 150 km west of Barcelona, has been producing wine for 1000 years, but it was in a lull for about 100 years, as economic pressures led winemakers to abandon their vines for the city, never to return. This left only wine produced by the local cooperative and a couple of estates. The area was gradually brought back to life in the 1970’s and 1980’s, which is where I left off last time .
A key challenge in the area is the high cost of production due to the challenging harvest and vineyard maintenance. Extremely rugged topography with very steep rocky terrain (up to 60% grade) leads to minimal water retention and erosion of already poor soils. This, exacerbated by Priorat being drought prone, results in very low juice yields, due to both a small number of grapes per vine AND very small berries.
So why bother? What’s the rub?
The result of these conditions is a very concentrated juice, which is very advantageous from a wine quality perspective.
Understanding both the quality potential and the high-cost disadvantage, a group of 10 people decided that the best way to succeed was to collaborate, by pooling their resources and producing one wine together.
One wine.
Not one wine each.
One wine total.
Ten different labels.
Yes, TEN different labels for the same wine.
Wait, there is more …
The one wine would be marketed separately … again as ten different wines. :0
This project took 10 years to execute.
The vintage?
1989.
This would be the only vintage they produced together. By the next harvest the key members, who during my visit were referred to as the 5 hippies, each produced their own wine and eventually their own wineries, all of which are still in operation today.
The wine was a blend of Grenache (aka Garnacha), Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, and Carignan. Each label included the word ‘Clos’ (meaning ‘enclosure’ in French and Catalan.)
Wait! Wait, wait! I want to know more about these hippies. Who are they? I am so intrigued!
I so love this story!
The ringleader was Spanish born René Barbier (III), whose ancestors were French winemakers from as far back as the 13th century. René studied in Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Limoux, and was keen to bring French winemaking techniques to the area. He began by planting a small vineyard in 1979 and set up Clos Mogador winery where the first landmark vintage was made.
In parallel René was working in Rioja for the well-established Palacios family, where he asked Alvaro Palacios to join him in Priorat. Alvaro was born to Rioja vintners with a 350-year winemaking history, studied winemaking in Bordeaux, and was looking for a place of his own. The 25-year-old sold his motorcycle and followed René, which led to his Clos Dofi label and the eventual acquisition of his first vineyard in the early 1990s to form Finca Dofi, the winery.
René’s childhood friend, journalist Carles Pastrana, was keen to partake as he already had a vision of re-creating the ancient Carthusian wines. He, along with his wife winemaker Mariona Jarque, created Clos de l’Obac by recovering old producing vineyard and replanting neglected vineyards in the mid-1980’s. He is the only one of the hippies I personally met - I visited with Carles in 2021 for several hours. He generously opened many older wines for us, but not the 1989 vintage… (although I made a crack about it of course.)
The next participant, Josep Lluis Pérez, moved to Priorat from Barcelona to open an oenology and viticulture (winemaking & vine growing) school in 1982, the first of its kind in Spain. Neither he nor his wife Montse Ovejero, had a wine background, but he was eager to return to a rural area as per his childhood. As part of the school curriculum, winemaking trials were conducted, leading to the Clos Martinet label and Mas Martinet winery.
And then came Daphne Glorian, a Swiss native who trained as a lawyer in Paris where she got entrained into the wine world in her early 20’s. She met René and Alvaro at a wine fair where René pitched the idea as a commune – “all peace and love and naked in the vineyards,” she said. Clos Erasmus wine was born as a result, as was Clos i Terrasses wine company, named for the 17 terraces of old Garnacha (Grenache) vines she bought with all her savings. Her first 10 vintages were produced at René’s Clos Mogador.
I loved visiting Clos Mogador and Mas Martinet where I toured the rugged vineyards in resilient farm vehicles (see green van photo) with the feeling of having just bought a ticket for a ride at an amusement park! The resulting nausea? Absolutely worth it. Standing in those vineyards felt magical!
OK, so that is 3 of the 5 hippy wineries visited, isn’t it?
Clos i Terrasses does not offer visits. However, I felt so honored to receive a very sincere email from Daphne directly apologizing for that! So classy!
Years later, I found out that Finca Dofi (Alvaro) only accepts visits from wine professionals, and my WSET Level 3 from the time clearly did not cut the mustard. That is OK, Alvaro! It’s an excuse to return! In their defence, the place looked packed!
OK, I can sense you are wrapping up… what about 1989?!
The legendary vintage of 1989 was released to the international market in 1991 and was received remarkably well. Ironically, despite the identical wine, some critics rated some labels differently. By the late-1990’s our famous hippies’ wines were commanding premium to super-premium prices due to worldwide critical acclaim.
But all this means nothing unless you personally like these wines (although, kind of a cool story, no)?
Let’s discuss one of the most affordable Priorat wines on the Alberta market. Of course, this is not a “Clos” level wine, and does not have the same concentration as that quality, but at a significantly more affordable price!
Menut La Tribu 2021 from Priorat, Catalunya, Spain
Style: Medium Body Red Wine
Varieties: Blend of Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, and Merlot
This vivid yet elegant wine has floral aromas and flavors of juicy red plums, bramble, blueberry, blackberry with the complexity of sweet baking spices, vanilla, caramel, cocoa, and an undercurrent of wet leaves, mushroom, and leather. There is very good balance between the moderate ripe tannins and the high intensity precise flavors.
Best pairings: Paella, Grilled Meat (Pork & Chicken), Pork Tenderloin, Tapas, Jamon, and Manchego cheese
Serving Temperature: 16 degrees Celsius
Price: ~$34 (incl. Shades of Grape 15% discount & 5% gst)
Serving Tips: No decant necessary
I have compiled all my relevant wine recommendations in one place including today’s wines. I will do my best to keep this up to date. That version also has links on where to find the wines in Alberta.
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SOURCES:
2020 mas martinet Clos Martinet Bio (no date) Buy wine online. Available at: https://www.grandcruwijnen.nl/en/2020-mas-martinet-clos-martinet-bio (Accessed: 08 January 2024).
Alvaro Palacios (no date) Alvaro Palacios Priorat - Rare Wine Co. Available at: https://www.rarewineco.com/producer/alvaro-palacios/ (Accessed: 08 January 2024).
Arola, J. (no date) Clos Mogador. Available at: http://www.closmogador.com/asp/familia.asp?prod=familia&idioma=EN (Accessed: 08 January 2024).
Clarke, J. (2023) Priorat: 30 Years on with the gang of five, World Of Fine Wine. Available at: https://worldoffinewine.com/homepage-featured-articles/priorat-gang-of-five (Accessed: 08 January 2024).
Clos de l’Obac Website (2023) Clos de l’Obac. Available at: https://obac.es/en/ (Accessed: 08 January 2024).
FM, P. (2020) EP 349: Mas Martinet - a founding domaine of Priorat with Sara Perez, owner, Wine for Normal People. Available at: https://player.fm/series/wine-for-normal-people-1264295/ep-349-mas-martinet-a-founding-domaine-of-priorat-with-sara-perez-owner (Accessed: 08 January 2024).
How hippies and dreamers transformed Priorat into a success story: Wine-Searcher News & Features (no date) Wine. Available at: https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2014/09/how-hippies-and-dreamers-transformed-priorat-into-a-success-story (Accessed: 08 January 2024).
Robinson, J. (2015) The oxford companion to wine. 4th rev. ed. Corby: Oxford University Press.
Robinson, J. and Lander, N. (2014) How Eric met Daphne, JancisRobinson.com. Available at: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/how-eric-met-daphne (Accessed: 08 January 2024).
Vins ecològics de territori (no date) Mas Martinet Viticultors. Available at: https://www.masmartinet.com/?lang=en (Accessed: 08 January 2024).
Wine & Spirit Education Trust (2021) D3: Wines of the World - An accompaniment to the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines. Version 1.2. London: Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
A fabulous story thank you x
Love the history lesson. Great article