The first stop on our Priorat vineyards tour was at the Costers del Siurana winery located in Gratallops. Carles Pastrana and his wife Mariona Jarque established this winery in 1979, and were one of the original five winemakers who were responsible for the revitalization of wine making in this region. Just 10 years after they began producing wine, Clos de l’Obac was recognized in the World Wine Guide as one of the world’s 150 best wines, and today both Clos de l’Obac and Miserere wines are known throughout the world for their high quality.
The winery is accessed off a small road that is located just before you turn into the town of Gratallops. After being greeted by Mariona, we had the honor of touring the winery with Carles Pastrana himself. During the tour you learn about the history of the winery, and the art and the science of producing high quality wines. What you take away most of all is the passion and obsession that the family has for creating their award-winning wines. Theirs is a labor of love, and that is felt in both the tour of the winery, as well as in the wines they produce.
The visit finishes with a wine tasting that is truly a memorable experience. Tasting a selection of wines with Carles and having him share the details of a particular vintage is the icing on the cake for any wine lover.
To arrange a visit to Clos de l’Obac you must send a request via email, which can be found on their website at https://obac.es. Visits are usually scheduled in the morning and are always personalized and given by a member of the family or the oenologist (who is Mariona’s brother, Joan Jarque). The tour and wine tasting lasts about 95 minutes, and at the end there is a wine tasting of 4 of their wines: Clos de l’Obac, Dolç de l’Obac, Miserere and Kyrie. The fee for the tour and tasting at present time is 25 Euros per person. You can purchase wines directly from the winery to take with you (they offer special carrying cases), or for orders of 12 bottles or more they can ship the order to the US.
If you are like us and fall in love with a particular wine (or wines), we highly recommend that you buy some bottles directly from the winery and either take them home or have them shipped (as we did), as you may not be able to find them later on when you return home. We are glad we did, as we cannot find the same vintages from any local New York City or other distributor. The shipping can take 3-4 weeks (due to regulations governing the export of wines), but you won’t be sorry when the bottles arrive and you have the pleasure of enjoying the fine wines of this winemaker all over again.
To read the next post in this series, click here.
To read the first post in this series, click here.
Photo credit: Clos de l’Obac · All rights reserved.
For assistance with your travel plans, including hotel and private tour reservations, click here.