Having worked with Joan Sangenís for close to two decades it was a logical decision to select his estate fruit for our Black Slate Porrera. With holdings in some of the top sites in the village, including the famed Mas d’En Caçador vineyard. The Black Slate Porrera is a blend of 20-30 year old Garnatxa and Carinyena with a small addition of Cabernet Sauvignon that is aged in neutral barrels for 12 months.
About the Producer
In 1194 the Carthusian Priory of Scala Dei was founded at the foot of the Montsant mountains in extreme southern Catalunya. This remote area had been depopulated due to centuries of warfare between the kings of Aragon and the Moors. But it was an ideal spot for the Carthusians who practiced a rigorous form of monasticism, one that valued silence and strict isolation. While the Carthusian monks were walled away in their individual cells, their lay brothers developed the land around the monastery, planting the first vines, olives, and hazelnuts for which this part of Catalunya would become renowned in centuries to come. In the process, they also founded outposts - at some remove from the Priory - and encouraged peasants to settle there and farm the lands. These outposts grew into the nine villages of the Priorat - Bellmunt, Gratallops, El Lloar, La Morera, Porrera, Poboleda, Scala Dei, Torroja del Priorat, La Vilella Alta, and La Vilella Baixa. Each village has a unique history, festivals, and customs but they share the same rugged geography and rich viticultural traditions established by the Carthusians at the end of the 12th century. In 1835 the Priory was dissolved but its ruins remain and its legacy lives on in the very name of the region - the Priorat.
