Priorat & Montsant · Spanien
Portal del Priorat
Portal del Priorat farms a good fifty hectares in the south of Priorat, near the villages of El Lloar and Bellmunt, about half of which is planted with vines. Alfredo Arribas, who had worked in Barcelona as an architect designing bars and hotels, bought the land in 2001 and bottled his first wines in 2004. Grenache and Carignan grow on their own roots on the black llicorella slate. Yields run at around one kilogram of grapes per vine, and some of the vines are over a hundred years old. The wines from Clos del Portal and Mas del Portal carry aromas of wet stone and garrigue, with alcohol levels that remain moderate.
Alfredo Arribas and the terraces near El Lloar
Alfredo Arribas spent the summers of his childhood with his grandfather in the Ribera del Duero, who was a winegrower. A career as an architect in Barcelona followed, where he designed bars and hotels. In 2001 he bought land in the south of Priorat, near the villages of El Lloar and Bellmunt. There, on abandoned terraces, stood Grenache and Carignan on their own roots, some of them over a hundred years old. Phylloxera had spared them because the llicorella slate was too poor and too steep.
Besides Portal del Priorat, Alfredo Arribas runs two other projects. Vins Nus, in the north of the region, is his natural wine line, made with little sulphur and no new wood. Alongside it is SiurAlta, from high-altitude vineyards above 700 metres in Montsant, where cooler nights allow for more finely drawn wines. With Trossos he preserves old vines in Montsant; all three projects are located in Priorat & Montsant.
Clos del Portal between Siurana and Montsant
The Clos del Portal estate covers a good fifty hectares, stretching from the Siurana valley toward the Montsant mountains. About half is planted with vines, while the rest of the land carries olives, almonds and Mediterranean woodland. The Negre de Negres, the estate's flagship blend, brings together all the sites, with Grenache dominant over Carignan, from vines aged between 20 and 65 years at 450 to 500 metres on black llicorella slate. The younger vines were propagated from a sélection massale of the older ones. After destemming, the wine ferments spontaneously in wood and stainless steel and ages for fifteen months in large French oak casks and barrels.
The Somni, Catalan for dream, blends Carignan and Syrah from the slopes and terraces of Mas del Portal. There the vines grow between 320 and 360 metres on pure slate, 5,000 vines per hectare, aged between 20 and 75 years. Fermentation takes 22 to 24 days in steel tank, after which the wine ages for fifteen months in large casks and barrels of French oak.
One kilogram of grapes per vine
Alfredo Arribas farms the vineyards organically and is converting them to biodynamic practice. He limits yields to around one kilogram of grapes per vine and harvests early, so that the Grenache retains its freshness and the slate shapes the wine more than the wood does. Cellar master Joan Asens lets the wines ferment spontaneously with wild yeasts and keeps macerations short. He uses sulphur sparingly, and no new barriques are used.
Pedro Ximénez and Garnatxa Blanca
For the Hommage, Alfredo Arribas selects old Pedro Ximénez vines in the Les Solanes plot. The blend of roughly two-thirds Pedro Ximénez and one-third Garnatxa Blanca ferments together, partly semi-oxidatively in barrel, partly in stainless steel on the lees, and ages for around ten months in 500-litre barrels. It is dedicated to the Andalusian migrant workers who worked in mining and agriculture in Catalonia up until the 1970s.
The El Mas de l'A. Quars comes from the higher vineyards with chalky-clay soils containing quartz. The Garnatxa Blanca spends a short time on the skins, with some of the grapes left whole, and ferments in a concrete tank. The wine then ages for ten months in 500-litre French oak barrels already in use at the winery.