Priorat, vineyards and wine
How envolved the Priorat has been in vine-growing. Can be seen in the great amount of data we have. The Priorat, one of the least populated areas in Catalonia –no more than 10,000 inhabitants- has about 1,500 vine-growers and more than 100 cellars. Statics applied, two out of ten inhabitants have got a vineyard and there is a cellar every hundred inhabitants. Besides, it should be taken into account that the percentage of land dedicated in the Priorat to vine-growing is twice more than in other areas in Catalonia. At the moment 
3.500 hectares. And what is more, from the 10 guarantee of origin (DO) in Catalonia, 2 are sited in the Priorat: DO Montsant and DOQ Priorat, the last been the only one qualified. But data are not so important as history is. Vine-growing comes from the settlement of the Romans when the wines of the Priorat were exported all over the Roman Empire. However, the best-known historic referent is the settlement of the Carthusian monks in Scala Dei in 12th century, who imposed their own vine-growing philosophy which the villages near-by ( Priorat Historic) made their own and which, later, other villages copied as well –those villages now included in DO Montsant. However, it has not been an easy task. The phylloxera plague at the end of 19th century made vine-growers leave vine-farming. Neverthelers, at the beginning of 20th century, when farming cooperatives appeared, there was a change and peasants bet are committed on wine-farming once more. Nowadays, the Priorat, because of the effort made in the past by its inhabitants and new businessmen now, recovers. Thanks to them all this part of Catalonia, so much depressed at times, looks forward to a prosper future.
3.500 hectares. And what is more, from the 10 guarantee of origin (DO) in Catalonia, 2 are sited in the Priorat: DO Montsant and DOQ Priorat, the last been the only one qualified. But data are not so important as history is. Vine-growing comes from the settlement of the Romans when the wines of the Priorat were exported all over the Roman Empire. However, the best-known historic referent is the settlement of the Carthusian monks in Scala Dei in 12th century, who imposed their own vine-growing philosophy which the villages near-by ( Priorat Historic) made their own and which, later, other villages copied as well –those villages now included in DO Montsant. However, it has not been an easy task. The phylloxera plague at the end of 19th century made vine-growers leave vine-farming. Neverthelers, at the beginning of 20th century, when farming cooperatives appeared, there was a change and peasants bet are committed on wine-farming once more. Nowadays, the Priorat, because of the effort made in the past by its inhabitants and new businessmen now, recovers. Thanks to them all this part of Catalonia, so much depressed at times, looks forward to a prosper future. |  |  The factors of quality >> |
