Wine Tourism: Catalunya – Priorat & Emporda

Escape the extremely touristy Barcelona and explore the rest of Catalonia (Catalunya in Catalan) for its wine, food, history and culture. 

Getting Started

2 weeks ago I posted about French Catalonia and also briefly covered the overall wine history of Catalonia before the northern part of it became France. You could even make French Catalonia part of your Spanish Catalonia trip or vice versa since Perpignan and Barcelona are only 2 hours apart. However, most people will start from Barcelona since tons more international and national flights, buses, boats and trains pass through there. Therefore, getting there shouldn’t be hard. 

Moreover, although locals speak Catalan and Spanish, you can generally get by with English or French given the huge amount of tourism and its proximity to France. 

Unlike French Catalonia, Spanish Catalonia is a lot more touristy and expensive for accommodations, especially its capital Barcelona, which recently has been facing protests from locals due to its overtourism. Protesters even squirted water at tourists. 

The Costa Brava area is also super-expensive to find places to stay, but getting out of Barcelona is still refreshing because it’s more relaxed and a little easier to interact with actual local Catalans. If you stay further from the coast, accommodations tend to be cheaper. We were there during the high season, so prices are probably lower at other times of the year. 

Food prices were reasonable, especially if you eat and drink local. Speaking of which, let’s get into the wine.

Catalonia the Wine Region    

Catalonia is designated as an autonomous community of Spain bordering Pyrenees and France to the North, the Mediterranean to the East, Valencia to the South and Aragon to the West. Since 1999, there’s been a Catalonia DO wine region. 

Within the Catalonia DO there are 11 other specific DO’s such as Penedes, Cava, Emporda, Priorat and Montsant. Priorat is the only DOCa (Denominación de Origen Calificada). 

Varieties & Styles

Although Cava can be made in other places in Spain, it was developed and still primarily comes from Catalonia, especially Penedes. Most use the white grapes Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo, but it’s possible to find some Chardonnay or reds like Pinot Noir, Garnacha and Monastrell (Mourvedre) in their sparkling rosados.

After Cava, the region is known for its reds, which are dominated by Garnacha and then Samso (Carignan) along with some Bordeaux varieties, Ull de Llebre (Tempranillo), Garrut (Monastrell) and Syrah.

Whites tend to be made with Garnacha Blanca and Macabeo, but there’s also Picapoll Blanco, Pedro Ximenez, Xarel-lo, Moscatel and other international whites. Still whites from Catalonia are harder to find outside the region–most US wine shops will only carry Cava and red options from the region. 

Some lost indigenous grapes like Sumoll, Trepat and others are starting to be revived, but they’re not easy to find yet.     

Like in French Catalonia, there’s a tradition of sweet and rancio wines (Vi Ranci in Catalan) in Catalonia. For example, Emporda makes sun-dried Garnacha which is labeled Garnatxa. Emporda and Priorat producers often have a rancio too in their selection, and they use a similar system of aging the wines in clear glass demijohns under the sun like in French Catalonia. There are various other forms of sweet wines like mistela, vino dulce natural and vino de licor dulce too.  

Overall, the wines here provide a lot bang for your buck much like the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Of course, it starts with Cava as an affordable alternative to Champagne, which is not so much the calling-card of the Languedoc-Roussillon region. However, both make affordable, easy-drinking, ripe Grenache based reds although I prefer both of their Carignan dominated wines better. Lastly, both have surprisingly excellent whites and sweet wines too if you can find them.   

Wine Tourism & More

Costa Brava & Emporda

There’s so much to see outside of Barcelona. We started by checking out the Costa Brava, where you have a beautiful 60 km stretch of beaches, coastal towns and resorts starting from the border of France down to around the town of Blanes. There are several nice seaside resort towns like Lloret de Mar and Tossa de Mar, but we elected to stay around L’Escala, which was cheaper and more easily accessible. From there you have quick access to beaches along the Bay of Roses, Roman and Greek ruins, and small fishing villages.

From the relatively flat L’Escala, it’s not too far to drive to Cadaques, which will cost you an arm and a leg to stay at but is at least worth visiting. To get to Cadaques you have a gorgeous drive through windy, hilly, terraced olive tree groves to find a secluded town lined with white houses on the hills surrounding a tiny bay. It has Santorini vibes but without the strong winds. Right next to Cadaques is Portlligat, where you can visit Dali’s house.  

Going further inland from L’Escala or Cadaques, you can see a lot more of Dali at his museum in Figueres. Although it’s flatter here, you still see several hilltop villages and castles wherever you go. You’re also in the heart of the DO Emporda.  

Emporda is a mix of some big, small, traditional and new wave producers. Most of what you’ll find outside the region is bargain level Garnacha, but as I keep harping on in all my wine tourism posts, you need to visit to try other varietals, rosados, whites and their sweet wines. We decided to dine and taste at Celler Perelada, a large producer with a castle you can visit and 2 restaurants (tasting notes below). One is a Michelin starred restaurant while the other is more casual and serves modern takes on traditional Catalan food. The wines they offer range from around 10 euros to 50+ euros.  

Around Barcelona & Priorat

From the Costa Brava, we headed towards Barcelona but stopped in Girona on the way. Girona has a well preserved medieval old town up top a hill with a huge wall and watch towers still intact that you can go up on and walk along. Game of Thrones fans may recognize some of the city from Season 6.

Barcelona still makes a nice base to visit Priorat and other nearby attractions. We chose to stay more on the outskirts to avoid the traffic, but it’s close enough to take the metro into the city center if you wanted. To the west of Barcelona, you have Montserrat, a beautiful mountain range where you can hike and visit an abbey. 

However, we focused on the area southwest of Barcelona. Here, you have the city of Tarragona, which is filled with Roman ruins and is one of the places where you can see Castellers perform dances that form human towers. They perform every Wednesday in front of the Cathedral at 8pm.

Going north from Tarragona to the countryside, you can check out the UNESCO Royal Monastery of Santa María de Poblet. There’s a winery inside the Monastery called Abadía de Poblet. It’s one of the few producers that focus on the variety Trepat. 

With only one day to visit wineries (oh the sacrifices you make when you have kids), we prioritized Priorat, which is basically west of Tarragona. I already wrote a bit about the history of Priorat in a post about Spanish Carignan, but in a nutshell it’s the Spanish version of Châteauneuf du Pape. Like Chateauneuf du Pape it’s known for making serious and powerful Grenache based reds. Both rose from near collapse with the help of local gumption, modernization and high scores from Robert Parker in the 90’s. There were 5 original producers who formed a co-op to pool their resources together to make better wine. Now, it makes the most expensive and prestigious wines of Catalonia.  

The landscape is magnificent. Priorat is basically encircled by mountains and made up of little towns on top of hills. It’s often the case that the more dramatic the landscape and harder to access the vines, the more care and attention the vines get and the better the wine. Plus, not a lot is produced with the hot, dry weather. 

We passed through two of the most important towns: Porrera and Gratallops, where the oldest vines are. At the basin you find the famous licorella (black slate) soil which gives Priorat its minerally edge. However, as you go further up the surrounding mountains, you start getting more iron and rocky soils. You also start to enter the DO of Montsant, which almost completely surrounds Priorat and makes a much cheaper alternative to Priorat (see map). Indeed, many top Priorat producers also make cheaper Montsant versions of similar wines or even as expensive and as good, such as Clos Mogador’s Espectacle del Montsant.

Besides the quaint little villages, there’s also the old Cartoixa d’Escaladei Monastery ruins where some of the earliest history of winemaking in Priorat started in the 12th century. Of course there are active wineries just 3 minutes away, so this makes a nice option to visit. 

Mas Martinet

There are several wineries you can visit in Priorat (list here). Some wine shops do tastings too like this one in Porrera which also serves tapas. However, we chose to visit one of the original 5 producers that helped put Priorat on the map again. 

Mas Martinet was founded in 1986 by José Lluis Perez Ovejero, who was a biologist by trade. He ended up using his scientific approach in his winemaking. For example, he developed his own type of circular individual trellis for his vines. 

His daughter Sara Perez now runs the winery, and like with current trends, she makes wines in a less heavy-handed way. They use native yeasts and minimal sulfites. Although I’ve always enjoyed Priorat wines from my earliest days collecting wine, they were sometimes over the top in terms of alcohol and ripe fruit extraction. That’s changing in Priorat, at least at Mas Martinet, where the wines are still powerful but more elegant and fresh. 

By visiting Mas Martinet, you really get 2 of the original 5 families of modern Priorat in one since she’s married to René Barbier, the son of René Barbier, the founder of Clos Mogador and the leader of the famous 5 producers to revamp Priorat. In fact, you can buy wines from the other family projects at Mas Martinet. There’s Venus la Universal which is a project of Sara and René in Montsant, and they also make a Sara I René Viticultors line from Gratallops in Priorat. Sara’s brother Adria and cousin Marc also make Cims de Porrera in Priorat and Les Cousins also in Porrera. 

The visit at Mas Martinet is one the most complete and personal winery visits I’ve experienced. The wineries in Priorat are not big chateau or commercial wineries that can accommodate large 10-20 people visits every hour. At Mas Martinet, groups have to be 6 or 7 people or less. This is because they don’t just take you to the cellar, tasting room and surrounding vineyards at the basin. They take you up the hill in their truck to see their higher elevation vines. Here you also get wonderful views of Priorat, the hilltop villages and surrounding mountains.  The whole experience takes at least 2 hours. 

Going up the hill, you get to see the differences in terroir of their various red labels. The Clos Martinet is from the estate at the basin next to Gratallops. The Martinet Bru is made from younger vines at 400m up the hill and the Els Escurçons comes from the top of the hill at 600m. Check out my tasting notes below.

Although Gratallops has fancier options, we decided to have lunch at the nearby restaurant La Cassola. It’s only a 3 minute drive from Mas Martinet. You get a nice view of the valley and Gratallops and unpretentious, copious amounts of home cooked Catalan food. Plus, they don’t charge a corkage fee, so we were able to open a bottle we bought at the winery to have with lunch. The lunch set menu is less than 20 euros and comes with a glass of wine too. Just don’t expect haute-cuisine.     

 

Tasting Notes

Mas Martinet Priorat Tasting

2023 Martinet Bru – From concrete vat. Grenache, Carignan, Syrah with a bit of Cabernet. Color closer to Syrah. Ripe fruity nose. Dry, hot year. Dark and red fruit. Still maintains freshness. Tannic. A little warm but held in check. Touch of minerality. 91+

2022 Martinet Bru – Similar to the 2023, but a little less fruit and more acid and minerality. Slightly lighter bodied. Obviously the 2023 was super young and more fruit driven. The Bru label is the one to drink younger in more casual occasions although it should still age well up to 10 years. 91+

2021 Els Escurçons – Vines at the top of the hill. No destemming. No wood at all. All Garnacha. Clear, light color.  Much more red-fruited on the nose. Brighter. But the palate is actually darker with less acid. Much more herbal. Even more tannic. Yet softer and suave, elegant. Then a lingering minerality. This is more for wine geeks since not as overtly fruity and really struts its terroir. 93+

2021 Cami Pesseroles – Garnacha and Carignan blend. From the bottom of the valley. Back to the ripe fruit on the nose. Darker color. Dark and red fruit on the palate with a kick of acid and minerality at the end. Still tannic and young. Feel less alcohol than the Bru’s. 93+

2022 Pesseroles Brisat Orange – Picapoll blanc, Pedro Ximenes, Garnatxa Blanca. 3 month maceration. Orange color. Nose is quite ripe compared to most orange wines but it has some of them dried leafy and oxidative notes I often get in orange wines but it’s more in the background. Similar on the palate. Fruit driven with herbal spices. Medium+ acid. Good structure but approachable now. 92 Only 1075 bottles made. 

2021 Clos Martinet – like the Bru in the flavor profile but with a step up in elegance, complexity and length. More minerality. Mostly Garnacha with Syrah and Carignan. 94+ 

2021 Vi de Vila Porrera Garnatxa Blanca Brisada Priorat Coop. Agricola de Porrera Collita Cims de Porrera – 7,680 bottles made. 100% Garnacha Blanca. Winery from the brother of Sara Perez, the head of Mas Martinet. Dark, aged oxidized looking color. The nose opens up to peachy fruit, apple cider, spice, touch of oxidative notes on the nose and palate but still quite fresh with good acidity. Medium body. Round and silky. 91

This wine was drunk at dinner in Barcelona. 

2023 Rebeldes Montsant – Garnacha, Cariñena, Syrah. Nice balance of the fruitiness of the Garnacha mixed with some dark fruit from the Syrah but good acidity from the Carignan with an easy drinking round, medium body. Some herbal notes too. There’s a bit of oak too. Apparently the Carignan spent some time in foudre. 90

Celler Perelada Emporda Visit

NV Garnatxa De L’Emporda 12 Años – Garnatxa Blanca and Roja. Just opened. Takes me to Sauternes with honeyed dried apricot notes. Coffee. Medium acid. A touch of heat. Vin Doux Natural and Solera method. Traditionally these are sun-dried like a Vin de Paille. 90+

2023 Collection Blanc Chardonnay Emporda – Some mild oak and malolactic on the nose. Citrus and white and yellow peach fruit and flowers. Spice. Smooth palate, white fruit with medium low acid and medium-light body. 89

2020 La Garriga Samsó Emporda – Oak driven nose with spice and creamy vanilla. Herbs. The palate is medium-bodied with medium+ acidity. Dark red fruit. A touch of heat but should be fine with food. 89

2023 Inspirador Sauvignon Blanc Emporda – Passion Fruit, fresh nose. Typical Sauvignon Blanc notes but without much green notes. The palate is only medium acid, light body, slightly oxidative (bottle was already open for serving by the cup). Nose is better than the palate. I generally prefer my Sauvignon Blanc crisper but it’s still versatile enough with food. 87

2023 Només Garnatxa Negra Emporda – Ripe and fruity more on the dark-red fruit side, however a touch bitter with some heat on the back end. Smells like there’s a touch of oak too. Low acid. Medium-Light body with super smooth texture. 87