CELLERS UNIÓ

The two regions Priorat (named after the Priory of a Carthage monastery) and Montsant are Catalonia’s oldest wine-growing zones. They are located about 30km from Tarragona in the transition of the Spanish high plateau to the sea in a sparsely populated, rugged mountain region. The DOQ Priorat is, besides Rioja, the highest-ranked wine-growing region in Spain. On terraced slopes wine is cultivated, the yields on the barren soils are low and the wines are known for their concentrated and multi-layered nature. Characteristic of the region is its type “Llicorella” – a brittle, nutrient-poor and usually copper-colored slate with an age of 350-400 million years, which is decisive for the often mineral character. In addition, large temperature differences and irregular, partly lacking rainfall have a significant influence on the wine. The young DO Montsant (since 2001) almost completely surrounds Priorat and resembles it from the landscape, before it expires to Tarragona in the south. However, the soils are more diverse: compact limestone soils, red soils with high clay content and low-mineralized slate floors (Llicorella).

Cellers Unio was founded in the 1940s as a cooperative. In addition to large areas in Tarragona, Terra Alta and DO Cava, they also include small winemakers from Priorat and Monsant.