Celler Cecilio is a family winery in Gratallops founded in 1942 by Cecilio Vicent, a native of Valencia who settled in the Priorat and married into a family that owned several hectares of vineyard in the area. Cecilio restored the neglected vines and, after selling grapes to the local cooperative while learning the trade, began bottling his own wine in 1942 in an old stable he converted into a cellar. In 1954, when official regulations were finally published, the winery became the first to be registered under the DOQ Priorat.
Today the estate is run by the founder's son, August Vicent, who farms about 9 hectares across four plots in Gratallops and one in El Lloar. The oldest vines, at Els Espills, are eighty-year-old Garnacha and Cariñena. The winery works mainly with Garnacha Negra, Cariñena, Syrah and Garnacha Blanca grown on the region's characteristic llicorella slate, producing wines such as Cecilio Negre (Garnacha, Cariñena and Syrah), the white L'Udol (Garnacha Blanca), and L'Espill Negre (Garnacha and Cariñena).
The cellar can be visited at Carrer del Piró, 28, in Gratallops, Monday to Friday 10am-7pm and Saturday 10am-3pm.
Imatge: Juan Emilio Prades Bel · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sources: cellercecilio.com · doqpriorat.org · bowlerwine.com