This project, pioneer in Spain, positions DOQ Priorat wines among the best European wines, following the same path as the greatest wine regions in the old world

A great wine is a strict and pure fruit of a privileged place. The more we try to narrow it down, the more precise the identity is, which is vital in order to define a great wine. In this context, DOQ Priorat is pushing this new qualification of wines produced in their wineries, while stressing three main values: transparency, humility and the recovery of what was once gone.

“It is time to respect a more specific origin. It is about naming a certain wine as it should be, according to the place it is from. The more responsibility we have towards the land the more credibility, confidence and rigour we gain in the world of great wines”, said Álvaro Palacios, DOQ Priorat winemaker, during the world presentation of the new qualification held today in Cartoixa d’Escaladei before more than 55 highly-regarded wine professionals from all over the world.

“This project is placing value on the singularity of a land, DOQ Priorat, by highlighting the 459 locations, besides singular and ancient vines”, said Sal·lustià Àlvarez, president of DOQ Priorat.

“The names of the land” is introducing the following classification:

DOQ Priorat wine

They reflect the generic winegrowing personality and typicity of the DOQ.

Vins de Vila

They transmit the exclusive identity of a village’s landscape mosaic, the sum of the diversity of its wine locations

Paratge Wines

They show an even purer essence, a character linked to orography, geology and a delimited microclimate.

Vinya Classificada

These wines are born from an individual wine production of exceptional virtues, which needs to be bottle separately.

Gran vinya classificada

These are very rare samples of natural and historical talent: a moving alliance resulting of the sheer caprice of nature and tradition that has been able to interpret and safeguard the most exclusive wine jewels to our days, with no alteration from time.

Traceability

Consell Regulador DOQ Priorat identified all wine plots in Priorat. The reason was to guarantee the origin of ever grape from every vineyard and every wine according to a given qualification. DOQ Priorat’s technicians can therefore ensure, thanks to a strict control of traceability, that the origin and rules established in the current classification are applied to all wines.

Today, DOQ Priorat has just over 2.000 hectares of vineyards, grown by 575 winemakers and 109 wineries. Vine cultivation and wine making are the main economic activities of the appellation’s villages.