Recognition of the landscape of the Priorat wine region

This viewpoint is at the centre of the territory covered by the Priorat wine region, ideal for looking at and understanding the landscape and the values preserved in our region.

First of all we can see the backdrop formed by the Montsant massif, overlooking the abrupt hills formed of llicorella, the local name for the characteristic slate that marks the terroir of the DOQ Priorat wine region To the west, the village of Gratallops and to the east that of Torroja, between them a maze of winding watercourses, paths and roads with all their bridges, farmhouses, huts and wineries, home to women and men who, generation after generation, have cared for the land for over eight centuries, six of them under the lordship of the Carthusian monks.

The landscape can be read on two levels: one as worked land, with crops on small plots, above all vineyards but also olive and almond groves, and lower down small vegetable plots taking advantage of the water from the river, and another to do with the spontaneous vegetation alternating with the farmland: the woods and scrub that, before the phylloxera wine plague hit in the early 20th century, were planted with vineyards and which are being gradually recovered, thanks to everybody's hard work, allowing the wine of the Priorat to earn a prestigious place in the world.

Finally, mention must be made of the two main types of cultivation in the area: hillsides with bush vines planted in the traditional way on their slopes, which need to be worked by hand, and the newer stepped terraces, created to work the vineyards in a more modern way.