Focussing on quality over quantity, Celler Vall Llach has firmly embraced a small-is beautiful ethos of microproduction for its vineyards and "trossos".
Consistent with this philosophy, the celler has imposed a ceiling on production and growth in order never to lose the personal and thorough supervision exerted over each stage of the process of wine making.
All this, and the unique character of Priorat allow us to offer you wines that Vall Llach hopes you will find fascinating and exclusive
To the East of Priorat (Southern Catalunya), few kilometers from Coll Teixeta, we find Porrera, a historical Priorat municipality where Celler Vall Llach was created.
The township takes up 28,54 km² and spreads along the valley of the Cortiella River, which flows across the territory from East to West and finally runs into the Siurana River. The northern and western sectors are limited for La Serra del Molló. Practically the whole territory is covered with vineyards.
After the depopulation of La Garrantxa, Porrera is the only populated centre in the municipality.
You can arrive from Falset by T-740; from Reus by first taking N-420 (to Coll Teixeta) and later by TP-7041; from Cornudella de Montsant by taking C-242 (until Venta d'en Pubill) and then by TP-7402 to Porrera.
Porrera is a farming town but only a 40% of the land is cultivated. The rest are waste lands covered with brushwood and forests. The chief crops are vine, almond and hazelnut trees. There are some unused beads of lead and baryta and also some fountains of ferrous water.
The farming co-operative was founded in 1932.
Along the centuries Porrera earned itself the reputatio of 'the most rebellious city in Catalunya' but, History has also proved that the village has always fought for liberty.
Despite the continuous wars and fights that destroyed the village, Porrera has built and rebuilt its buildings and kept its noble and proud appearance. The sumptuous buildings, the wide streets and the rivers evoke its glorious past.
The most remarkable building in the Neoclassical parish church of Sant Joan Evangelista built between 1763 and 1711.
Visitors should not miss the hermitage of Sant Antoni Abad built in 1610 on top of a craggy hill, and also the route along the sundials spread all over the village.
Cellar Vall Llach Embruix Priorat is made from 27% Grenache, 21% Cariñena, 12% Syrah, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot. Review: Dark violet in the glass, this wine has a nose of black cherry, lavender and cedar. Blackberry and Mission fig flavors are accompanied by notes of cocoa powder, coffee bean, lavender, orange zest and aniseed. Plush tannins ply the tongue and gums and drop off into a fruit-filled finish. -Wine Enthusiast 93 Points
Celler Vall Llach Idus
Since its founding in the early 1990s by celebrated singer Lluís Llach and notary Enric Costa, Celler Vall Llach has committed itself to rigorous quality standards. Located in the tiny mountain town of Porrera in the D.O.Q. Priorat, the winery is now headed by Enric’s son Albert as winemaker, general manager and co-owner.
The magnificent century-old estate vineyards boast 60- to 90-year-old Cariñena and Garnacha vines as well as newer plantings of Garnacha, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah that add complexity to Vall Llach’s range of widely acclaimed wines. Priorat’s notoriously stingy llicorella (fractured black slate) hillsides produce extremely low yields of intensely flavored grapes.
The Celler makes this wine from grapes from very old vines, some of which are centuries old, belonging to selected farms, owned by farmers who have been collaborating with us since our foundation. From the Cellar, we make a thorough follow-up of each of the production processes. And this collaboration with the farmers, who bring us inherited traditions and customs, allows Celler Vall Llach to identify this wine with the effort and uniqueness of the cultivation of these lands. Idus is a local wine. AGING The wine was transferred to 225 and 300 litre second wine barrels of light- and medium-toasted fine grained new French oak. The wine was moved once during the ageing period of 14 months
Review:
Made with Carignan and Garnacha, this deep-violet-colored wine has a bouquet of dark plum, purple fig, clove and lavender. It is smooth in the mouth, with flavors of black currant, blackberry, dark chocolate, anisette and violet. It offers bold acidity, plush tannins and a lengthy finish.
-Wine Enthusiast 95 Points
Weingut Prager Stockkultur Achleiten Gruner Veltliner Smaragd is made from 100 percent Gruner Veltliner.
Franz Prager, co-founder of the Vinea Wachau, had already earned a reputation for his wines when Toni Bodenstein married into the family. Bodenstein’s passion for biodiversity and old terraces, coupled with brilliant winemaking, places Prager in the highest echelon of Austrian producers.
Smaragd is a designation of ripeness for dry wines used exclusively by members of the Vinea Wachau. The wines must have minimum alcohol of 12.5%. The grapes are hand-harvested, typically in October and November, and are sent directly to press where they spontaneously ferment in stainless-steel tanks.
Stockkultur is a 0.3-hectare plot at the top of Achleiten and was purchased by Toni Bodenstein in 2005. The name refers to the old style of training each vine to a single stake; the traditional method of vine cultivation in the Wachau before the 1950s. The vines planted in 1938 are among the oldest in the Wachau.
Tasting Notes:
Prager’s stylistic signature is that of aromatic complexity coupled with power and tension. High-density planting and long hang times ensure ripe fruit flavors and concentration, yet allowing leaves to shade the fruit lend vibrant aromatics of grasses, herbs, and wildflowers. Minerality is a constant feature of any Prager wine.
Food Pairing:
With minimum alcohol of 12.5%, Grüner Veltliner Smaragd is a concentrated and full-bodied dry white wine. Its intensity of flavor and ripeness of fruit make it ideal with high-integrity ingredients such as seared white fish or sautéed spring vegetables. Grüner Veltliner is a classic accompaniment to Wiener Schnitzel.
Review:
From vines planted in 1937 and picked as the first of the Smaragd wines, the 2020 Ried Achleiten Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Stockkultur (planted with 15,000 vines per hectare) opens with a spectacular deep and complex but refined, fresh and flinty bouquet with intense, ripe pear and biscuit aromas. On the palate, this is a dense and lush yet pure, elegant and complex, wide and powerful but also mineral Achleiten with a long, finely tannic and still sweet finish (due to more than 30 grams per liter of dry extract). Tasted at the domaine in June 2021.
At Prager, I could not determine that 2020 would be inferior to the 2019 vintage; on the contrary, the 2020 Smaragd wines fascinated me enormously in their clear, cool, terroir-tinged way. A 38% loss had occurred mainly because of the hail on August 22, although predominantly in the Federspiel or Riesling vineyards. There was no damage in the top vineyards such as Ried Klaus, Achleiten or Zwerithaler. "Interestingly, the vines are in agony for about two weeks after the hail. There was no more growth, no development of ripeness and sugar," reports Toni Bondenstein. The Veltliner then recovered earlier, while even picking a Riesling Federspiel in October was still a struggle. "Why Riesling reacted more intensively to the hail, I don't know myself either," says Bodenstein. Whole clusters were pressed to preserve acidity and to compensate for the lower extract, and compared to 2019, the 2020s were left on their lees longer. In June, however, the 20s in particular showed outstanding early shape.
-Wine Advocate 96 Points
El Grifo Lias Malvasia Volcanica is made from 100% Malvasia Volcanica.
Color: Straw yellow, with light golden hues. Clear and bright.
Aroma: Medium-high intensity of a wine in evolution. Fresh, citrus (orange peel) and tropical (passion fruit and mango) fruits. Flowers (orange blossom, jasmine, violets), fennel, and complex aromas such as silex or flint (phosphorus). Yeast autolysis is reminiscent of the aromas of baked goods and yeast. Bottle ageing brings out hints of dried fruits, honey and caramel.
Taste: Full-bodied, with a lengthy and unctuous texture, very strong natural acidity, citrus freshness, mineral notes and saltiness. Persistent finish.
Residual Sugar 0.5 g/L
Total Acidity 6.02 g/L
pH 3.36
Total SO2 91 mg/L