What are common mistakes when making Priorat: slate and grenache?

Drinking too young — the tannins are formidable in the first 5 years. Over-chilling — mineral character closes below 14°C. Pairing with delicate preparations — these wines dominate.

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BV.27.0001 Beverage Terroir

Priorat: slate and grenache

Catalan — Wine & Terroir

Priorat: slate and grenache

One of 76 entries · The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden

I · Origin

Priorat, Catalonia, Spain

II · Description

Spain's most extreme red wine — grown on black slate and quartzite soils (llicorella) in the Priorat DOCa (one of only two DOCa designations in Spain, alongside Rioja) at 400-750 metres altitude in the Serra de Montsant mountains of inland Catalonia. The llicorella slate is the defining terroir element: vines driven deep into fractured rock by stress, yielding tiny crops of concentrated berries from Garnacha (Grenache) and Cariñena (Carignan) vines, some over 100 years old. The wines are powerful (14-16% ABV commonly), mineral, and complex — with a distinctive graphite-pencil mineral note from the slate that appears in no other Spanish wine. The best examples (Álvaro Palacios 'L'Ermita', Mas Doix, Clos de l'Obac) are among Spain's most internationally collected wines.

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