Priorat is located in the province of Tarragona, recognized with the highest quality to be qualified denomination of origin. The vineyard is planted on soils slatey called llicorelles. It is a mountainous area with steep slopes, in a way that is grown in the vineyard terraces. Its climate is temperate and dry, with marked fluctuations in temperature between day and night.
Somontano is unique in Aragón, if not Spain, in that its wines defy pigeonholing. The name means at the foot of the mountains and perfectly defines the geographic area where it sits this designation of origin, since it is a transition zone between the Ebro River valley and Pirineos. The DOs Costers del Segre and Navarra are about equidistant, east and west, respectively, and yet Somontano owes nothing to to either of them. Its altitude, climate, soils and native grape varieties are all contributors to the uniqueness of the area.
The Priorat Region
Climate: continental climate with long, hot and dry summers, the temperature, however, can reach records under-zero in the winter. Presents sharp contrasts between the valleys and the highlands where they can blow both cold northern winds as the Mistral, warm breeze blowing from the east. The vineyards are located at altitudes ranging from 100 m to 700 m and the average annual temperature is 15 °C. Rainfall varies between 400 mm and 600 mm.
Soils: vineyards are terraced into the sides os the foothills of the Serra del Montsant or planted in the slopes themselves. The valley is volcanic origin, and the unique soils play an important part in the quality of the wines. The stripey quartzite/slate bedrock is perfect for the vine roots and offers trave elementes all its own.Their rich, full bodied, elegant wines are matched only by the spectacular terraces that they’ve cut in to the steep mountains for their Grenache and Carignan grapes, because of this the harvest is performed manually.
The Somontano Region
Soils tend to be heavy on sandstone andclay (hence the bright red colour) with aluvial material near the rivers. It has low fertility and good drainage. Almost all the soils are rich in calcium carbonates wich makes them ideal for vinegrowing.
The altitude ranges between 350 meters and 650 meters.
The climate, continental, is softened by involving the Pyrenees coat against the cold north winds. Yet there are frequent frosts in winter and summer temperature extremes. The temperature differences between day and night are also very pronounced. The average rainfall is 500 mm.
