Vinyes Mas Romaní
📍 la Vilella Alta
Vinyes Mas Romaní was the name under which the Belgian couple Michel and Christine Vanhoutte founded a winery in la Vilella Alta in 1999, after being captivated by the rugged landscape of Priorat. They bought an old estate known as Mas Romaní and planted vines on the area's characteristic llicorella (slate) soils, advised from the outset by Rhône winemakers Michel Tardieu and Philippe Cambie.
In the mid-2000s the company changed its name and the winery became Mas Alta, the name it still trades under today. It farms roughly 30-35 hectares of Grenache, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah for the reds, and white Grenache, Macabeo and Pedro Ximénez for the whites, supplemented with grapes from old vines - some over a century old - bought from local growers.
Its wines have included the labels Artigas, La Creu Alta and La Basseta, and more recently Els Pics and Els Pics Blanc; the 2007 La Creu Alta won a gold medal at the 2012 Decanter World Wine Awards. The winery exports most of its production and offers guided visits by appointment, without a formal wine-tourism service.
Imatge: Toni Pérez Padilla · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sources: ca.wikipedia.org · enterwine.com