Articles

Bridging wine’s language silos

by  |  30-09-2016

Vinum is a wine shop in my adopted village of Porrera where it's usually the mother of the family that owns it, Cori who you'll find behind the counter. She's from the next county over,... more »

The rebirth of the Escanyavella grape in Priorat

by  |  20-05-2016

There existed many old grape varieties in Catalonia; many of them in much greater numbers before phylloxera. In the days that followed this catastrophic attack to European winemaking there was something of a viticultural reckoning... more »
A rainbow of wonderful wines

And the Porrera wine gang was all there

by  |  01-04-2016

As was usually when coming in from one of the trails around the village of Porrera, my dog had spotted a cat and ran off through the houses. We've been through this game many times... more »

Celler Ardèvol in Porrera now with visits

by  |  19-12-2015

Back when we were researching the Priorat book, when it came time to do a profile of Ardèvol, we ran in to a bit of a dead-end as Pep Ardèvol wasn't all that interested in... more »

The 2015 harvest in Priorat & Montsant

by  |  10-12-2015

These days everyone wants to put a positive spin on each year's vintage, wanting, rightly or wrongly, to stand out in a crowded digital landscape. But after last year's 'marmalade harvest', people may actually be... more »

Tasta Porrera 2015

by  |  05-11-2015

For those who love wine (and if you're reading this, you probably do), one of the best public events in Priorat happens this Saturday, November 7th starting at 11 in the morning called, Tasta Porrera.... more »

The new and improved Vinum

by  |  10-02-2015

When it comes to wine bars I'm a bit of a pain in the ass. There are many out there which are actually just restaurants that slap "& Wine Bar" on their sign but fail... more »

Clos Garsed 1989

by  |  03-02-2015

The shortened form of Priorat history goes something along the lines of "The monks came in the 12th century. They made wine. René Barbier arrived in 1979, released a wine in 1989 with four other... more »

Three wine kings

by  |  06-01-2015 ~ 2 Comments

In countries where Christmas is celebrated there seems to be a split based upon whether you think gifts should be exchanged on Jesus's birthday, December 25th or likely when the Three Kings showed up to... more »

To somm or not to somm

by  |  11-08-2014

At the end of last week I was having a meal with friends in the Priorat village of Porrera at La Cooperativa. The friends in question happened to be Albert and Roger of Vall Llach... more »