From a backwater in southern Catalonia, Priorat took its rightful place on the world wine map in the early 1990s. Its meteoric rise to fame was propelled by low-yielding, old Cariñena and Garnacha vines clinging to precipitous and ancient slate slopes. The best producers including Mas Doix, Alvaro Palacios and René Barbier were making wines that were turbo-charged: rich, ripe and powerful yet zinging with vibrant acidity.  But its rapid ascent to fame created growing pains: the region has struggled to define what makes Priorat Priorat, while overzealous winemaking and the inclusion of international
varieties has led to a regional identity crisis. Fortunately, Priorat has nature on its side: its distinctive llicorella slate soil limits yields and provides these Mediterranean-climate wines with a distinct mineral freshness. Combine this with the extreme fluctuations in temperature between day and night and, an extremely dry, sunny climate, and you have the potential to produce rich yet vibrant reds.  Priorat: troubled times The timing of Priorat's emergence as a fine wine producer could be the source of some of its nascent troubles. Its renaissance coincided with the heyday of Robert Parker and a global demand for reds with masses of new oak, super-ripe grapes and intense extraction to
maximise colour and tannin. It wasn't just the winemaking trends of the '90s that saw Priorat become the most intense, powerful and overbearing wine in Spain. Valentí Llagostera, founder of Mas Doix, explains that it had long been a supplier of bulk wine and a blending partner to bolster weaker wines from cooler climates – adding concentration, power and alcohol.  Lacking a tradition of fine winemaking, the idea of what a Priorat wine should be was fluid. Consequently, it became a region producing many different styles, leaving the wine drinker confused. Llagostera adds that the region had a real inferiority complex, with many growers
believing if the wine wasn’t big, powerful and as intense as possible, it wasn’t Priorat. This mentality also led to the incursion of international varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah were planted, in a bid to emulate the success of Bordeaux and the Rhône.  From the industrial to artisan Industrial-like estates, predominantly based in Rioja, have not been interested in reflecting a specific place but rather more focused on producing a homogenised house style with grapes sourced from as far as 300km away going into the same wine. This approach is therefore completely at odds with the concept of terroir. It is common for older vines to be uprooted to maintain high production levels and wines to undergo lengthy ageing in oak barrels to create greater homogeneity. "Spanish wines made in this way are more about a process than a place," according to Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate's critic for Spain.  Of course this homogenised style proves incredibly popular: Rioja remains one of the most
successful wine exporters thanks to its reliability and high volumes, offering value for money. However, wine lovers have become increasingly discerning; there is more demand for wines with a sense of place, whether they hail from a plot of old vines or from an indigenous variety. Priorat’s move towards a fresher, more elegant style is part of a wider movement in Spain. There's a revolution underway, with a younger generation of vignerons who have actively rejected the larger estates' approach, instead they're focusing on crafting unique wines with a strong sense of place, whether it be the saline-rich, volcanic soils of Tenerife to the high-altitude mountain-vine Garnacha from the Gredos Mountains, or the incredibly vibrant, taut perfumed wines of Ribeira Sacra.   The intensely concentrated yet mineral wines of Priorat should fit into this more terroir-driven movement. The unique slate soil, Priorat's mountainous landscape and old vines meant that it
was not possible for the region to become a Rioja lookalike. The trend toward fresher, more mineral wines aligned with a rediscovery of the region's indigenous varietals (Cariñena and Garnacha) has allowed Priorat to experience a second coming. Could Priorat be on the verge of discovering its true self? Will the real Priorat please stand up? Llagostera feels there is plenty of room for experimentation in search of Priorat's true identity. The team at Mas Doix is carrying out many trials, including ageing wines in amphora, maturing Garnacha in larger barrels to avoid oxidation, and fermenting in wooden vats to
achieve greater textural sophistication. There are also more radical approaches: German native Dominik Huber of Terroir-Al-Limit doesn't destem his reds, instead practising whole-bunch fermentation, leading to an intensely fresh style. Huber believes it required a generational change before Priorat could find its new identity. Despite the varied stylistic interpretations, the goal is to better understand Priorat's voice not disguise its raw beauty. Explore all Mas Doix listings or read more Editorial 

We talk to Mais Doix’s founder Valentí Llagostera about Priorat’s identity crisis and how a new generation of Spanish winemakers is putting the focus firmly on terroir

Mais Doix’s founder Valentí Llagostera on Priorat’s identity crisis and how a new generation of Spanish winemakers is putting the focus firmly on terroir

A new Priorat dawn

Priorat: a new dawn

Noel Verset is a true wine legend of Cornas. In fact, the fine wine region might not even have existed today were it not for his resilience and that of his compatriots Auguste Clape and Rene Balthazar.  Today, Cornas is widely recognised as one of the world's greatest sites for Syrah production and although the history of winemaking in this village dates back over a thousand years, just 50 years ago it was largely a forgotten backwater of the Rhone Valley. Even up until the 1990s Cornas' top producers did not share the gravitas of the more established nearby villages of Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage. But it is now common for Noel Verset’s wines to out-price top  Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage due to its rarity and historical importance. Like much of Europe’s viticultural regions, Cornas was left devastated by the Phylloxera outbreak in the late 1800s. The onset of World War I, The Great Depression and World War II only further damaged the region. Production levels were in continual decline and many vineyards were left abandoned. Despite its dwindling production, however, Cornas was awarded its appellation status in 1938. Noel Verset and his vigneron father witnessed much of this downfall. Born in Cornas (in 1919)  Verset was working with his father in the vineyards by the age of 12. Despite the region being on its knees at this time, Noel and his father continued to manage vines on the steepest, most difficult and low-yielding granite sites, which they knew produced the finest wines in the region.  In 1943, after marrying his wife Aline Balthazar (sister of Rene Balthazar, another godfather of Cornas), Noel stopped working with his father and set up his own business. Five years later, Noel Verset purchased Domaine del Sabarotte, a 1.3-hectare vineyard,  from Cornas négociant Delaygue. Verset continued to secure arguably the finest plots in the Cornas appellation, including the lieu-dits of Chaillots, Champelrose and Reynard which are all very steep granite sites. The industrialisation boom in the 1950s further depopulated the region making it a largely forgotten site for wine production. According to John Livingstone Learmonth’s book on Northern Rhone, Cornas remained in a time warp right through the 1970s. From 1968 to 1976 Verset, now in his mid-fifties, was forced to take on a second job in the town of Valence,
unpacking parcels from railway wagons, working evening shifts whilst managing his vineyards during the day.   However, the northern Rhône's star was starting to rise, as wine collectors from around the world started to look beyond Bordeaux and Burgundy. Neighbouring Hermitage and Côte Rôtie were starting to enjoy fame and although Cornas was playing catch up, quality improvements were taking place as growers started to bottle their own wine.  It was slow progress. Auguste Clape was the first to bottle his Cornas in 1955 and by the 1980s only 20 of the 60 growers, including Verset, had followed suit. However, the greatness of these low-yielding, estate-bottled expressions needed time to show its potential. Verset and Clape's benchmark style for Cornas was fiercely traditional, rugged Syrah, built for bottle maturation.   Cornas was brought back from the brink by the tireless efforts of Noel Verset, Auguste Clape and Rene Balthazar. Between the 1970s and 2005, the appellation had doubled in size to more than 100 hectares and there was growing demand for its vertiginous sites. In 2001, and nearing retirement at 82 years of age, the sale of his original Sabarotte vineyard to Auguste Clape and Laurent Courbis yielded four times more than it had been valued at just six years earlier. Finally, the vineyards of Cornas and Verset's wines had gained the recognition they deserved.  
In 2015, Verset passed away, aged 95, but his legend lives on in his wines, which often fetch prices exceeding the very best Côte Rôtie and Hermitage bottlings.  A number of the most prized 21st-century Cornas wines hail from the plots Verset nursed over eight decades. Thierry Allemand bought his Reynard vineyard and would go on to become the darling of the new generation of Cornas while his nephew Franck Balthazar took over the Chaillots vineyard in 2006 and has become a highly respected Cornas producer in his own right. The current custodians of these have inherited the Cornas earth and they have Verset to thank for it. Noel Verset also used to sell two barrels of wine to respected négociant Tardieu Laurent who were producing their top Cornas Vieilles Vignes cuvee made from Verset’s wine blended with another Cornas legend Robert Michel’s wine. On discovering the connection we couldn’t believe our luck when we were able to source the cuvee from the widely respected 1999 vintage retailing at under £40 a bottle. If you can even find a Verset bottle from this period it is retailing at well over £400 a bottle. Of course, it is not the same thing, but the interwoven web of wine production can sometimes lead you to some pretty magical discoveries. Whilst the odd case of Noel Verset’s Cornas comes up on the market every now and then, you might have more luck sourcing the Tardieu Laurent Cornas Vieilles Vignes which he contributed to, up until the 2006 vintage.  Explore more Editorial 

Noel Verset is one of the world’s great wine legends. During his 75-year winemaking career, the vigneron was instrumental in putting Cornas back on the fine wine map. We explore the legend's impact

Exploring winemaking legend Noel Verset's impact during his 75-year career which has included putting Cornas on the fine wine map.

A legend of Cornas winemaking

Noel Verset: A legend of Cornas

Burgundy expert Jasper Morris MW has had his finger on the region’s wine pulse for several decades. Especially for FONDATA, he profiles eight domaines to watch, producers that are bringing vital energy and fresh winemaking talent to the celebrated wine region 

Jasper Morris MW on eight of Burgundy’s most exciting domaines – including Eleni & Edouard Vocoret, Chantereves, Alvina Pernot and more 

The new Burgundians – Jasper Morris MW 

The new Burgundians

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