Vinícola del Priorat is a cooperative winery that grew out of older local cooperatives in Gratallops (1917), el Lloar (1930), la Vilella Alta (1933) and la Vilella Baixa (1919), which merged around 1990-91 into a single entity to modernize wine and olive-oil production. Today it brings together more than a hundred farming families working roughly 300 small plots spread across these four villages, on the steep slate (llicorella) slopes characteristic of Priorat, and it is the only cooperative in the region that manages the entire process, from growing the vines to selling the finished wine.
Its village wine, El Lloar, comes from old, low-yielding vines on quality hillsides in that village: hand-picked Carignan (Cariñena) grapes, fermented in stainless steel and aged twelve months in new French oak before further bottle aging. Other notable wines include Ònix Clàssic, L'Obaga and Clos Gebrat, alongside a vermouth and a Ranci aged in old barrels using traditional methods. Around 75% of production is exported to more than twenty countries.
The winery, based in Gratallops, offers guided visits and tastings, ranging from a basic 30-minute tasting to a three-hour cellar-and-vineyard experience, though it has no restaurant or accommodation on site.
Imatge: Jaumemon2009 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Sources: vinicoladelpriorat.com · turismepriorat.org · vinicoladelpriorat.com