| COSTERS DEL SIURANA - CLOS DE L'OBAC. Priorat
www.costersdelsiurana.com - info@costersdelsiurana.com
- Tel: (+34) 977 839276 -
Fax: (+34) 977 839371
They also have a very good restaurant in Gratallops, El Celler de Gratallops, five minutes form the winery where they combine the traditional catalan food with modern touches, using the most fresh and higher quality ingredients. There is as well a new book just published by Carles Pastrana, 12+1 The Friars Dozen: Thirteen Vintages of a Priorat Wine, about the Priorat region, traditions, history, and of course, winemaking. They produce their wines using the traditional method, with their own grapes from old vines, without watering the vines, and without insecticides or synthetic products. They use French oak barrels and the traditional method of hand racking by the light of a candle, bottleling without filtering. Their wines are complex, structured and have a long ageing potential. When the family arrived to the area they recognized “the unusual combination of topography, soil and climate, a unique ´terroir`, and a one thousand year old wine-making tradition”, so they started a project that, in their own words, was “to re-awaken the spirit of the old Carthusian oenologists, by rebuilding the steep, slatey terraces and replanting the vines. The old vineyard slopes were surveyed, the walls were repaired, the stones were cleared by hand, and access paths were built. They are reconstructing the architectural complex of Mas d’en Bruno in one of their vineyards, where the order of Saint Bruno founded in 1149 the first carthusian monastery of the Iberic Peninsula. Wines from the winery:
Pictures and text courtesy of Costers del Siurana Vintage Spain can organize private visits to the winery. Contac us for more information info@vintagespain.com
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Costers del Siurana, better known for its most famous wine, Clos de l’Obac, is one of the first and most prestigious wineries in the Priorat wine region. Founded in 1987 by Carles Pastrana and Mariona Jarque, it is one of the reasons for the renaissance of the D.O. Priorat in a land where wine making has a very long tradition. They combined this tradition with modern technology to produce their excellent wines: Clos de l’Obac, Miserere, Kyrie and the sweet Dolç de l’Obac.
The result was the loss of some 40-50% of plantable land. Thus, for each useable hectare we had to transform two. We resuscitated the old Garnacha, Tempranillo and Cariñena vines, especially the latter, some of which were over fifty years old. We introduced the Cabernet Sauvignon, the Merlot and the Syrah. We updated the viticulture, training the vines on posts and wires and bringing vines on posts and wires and bringing in methods of modern vineyard management. In this way, we have improved the average yield to 1.2Kg / 1.8Kg per vine, depending on the characteristics of each vintage.” 
Clos de l’Obac, a "coupage" is of five grape varieties, mainly fifty year old Garnacha and Cariñena vines. Powerful wine with structure and complexity.