The Priorat Manifesto

Priorat is deeply rooted in the viticulture industry. Since the

12th century, wine has been made in the region. However, due to
the phylloxera pest in the late 20 th century, the vineyards had
almost been totally abandoned. The resurgence of wine making
began in the 90s, marketed as high quality wines unique to the
region of Priorat.
Indeed such is true. Priorats soil consists of reddish black
carboniferous slate mixed with bits of mica, which retain heat
captured from the sun. Underneath the slate topsoil is clay
acting as storage for water, the main sustenance for the vines
when rainwater is scarce. Old vines can dig down to fifty
meters in search for water.
In the 80s, as wineries took interest in Priorat, the region
went through rural rebranding. It began to produce high quality
wine in low quantities and very quickly made its way to
international fame.
Porrera, because of its challenging terrain consisting of steep
slopes, produces very few grapes though the resulting grapes
are of much higher quality and taste. The terrain itself is the
limiting factor as to how much wine can be made.
The slopes surrounding the town average around 24.7o with a
standard deviation of 9o. There are two ways of planting; the
traditional method and the modern method.
The traditional method consists of planting the vines onto the
slope itself, reducing the amount of soil displacement during
preparation of the area. These areas have to be worked by hand
due to the steep incline of the site and the density of the
rows, usually less than two meters apart. This generally allows
for a larger number of vines, but also increases the manual
labour both in terms of making the terraces and harvesting the
grapes.
The modern method consists of using machines (bulldozers,
backhead tractors) to create terraces through the cut and fill
method. This creates aisles generally three to five meters in
width with a row of vines on either side. Allowing for
mechanized maintenance of the terraces and vines, the process
reduces the amount of labour required for planting.
Traditional terraces have seen a mere increase of 0.4% (3.4% in
1998-3.7% in 2003) of the land which terraced vineyards have
seen a massive increase from 3.8% in 1998 to 10.1% in 2003.
This great increase in terraced vineyards benefits the economy
greatly as the making of terraces is subsidized by the
government, some regions 50% while others as high as 75%.

Henry Chuang

The increase in terraced vineyards also allows for a reduction

in wine prices. Even though Priorat is known for producing some
of the greatest vintages, wines of much lower pricing is also
available.
Wineries are proud of their vineyards, touting their century
old vines and generations-old properties even distinguishing
between their old and new vineyards and the grapes
produceds.
Such is what irks consumers. True, the wine produced is of
world quality, but the rural rebranding of Priorat has also
turned it into a commodity. The wineries seem to go against
their own ideas of the tradition and culture in the region.
Upon closer inspection, this truly becomes evident. The
investors who saw potential and revived the vineyards were
foreign. They knew nothing of local soil and site conditions.
Not knowing site conditions is somewhat excusable as over 70%
of the site used to be vineyards before being wiped out by the
phylloxera pest.
However, local soil conditions is what is truly the essence of
Priorat. The soil acts as spices for the wine, llicorella,
soldo, and lime. All three can be considered essential
ingredients for the special taste of wine.
The cut and fill terraces restructure and change the soil
physically and chemically. It removes and completely changes
the top soil and in addition, crushes and compacts the stones
to complete the roadways. This terraforming, without the use of
retaining walls, devastates the natural environment.
The terraces cause massive amounts of soil erosion, damaging
the natural landscape and vineyards alike. Constructed with
very little regard for the environment, the profit able to be
made is held paramount. The terracing produces an undesirable
Quarry effect in the landscape, turning the natural flowing
slopes into what appears to be a quarry. These geomorphological
effects will persist for decades, even centuries to come.
These contradictions, ironies, plague the region. On the
surface, Priorat is being revived through the rural rebranding,
but upon inspection, their ideologies seem to collapse upon
themselves.
Traditional
culture
versus
modernized
profit
margin, it is clear which one is desirable. To live up to the
history of the region, one must begin to consider how to keep
the wine making lineage prestigious. I wish to reform the way
of thought, to return to their original ideals and methods of
creation.