While we were staying with Salvador he said that he was up for doing a big road trip. He had a book in his house that had some stunning pictures of the villages and mountainside vineyards of Priorato, so we chose to do a trip that would involve seeing the Monastery of Santa Maria in Poblet, exploring the Priorato wine region and finishing up the day in the ancient Roman city of Tarragona.
We were up early the next morning on off to start our adventure. Our first stop was the Monastery of Santa María de Poblet. Constructed between the 12th and 18th century it is well renowned for its beautiful monastic architecture. We took a nice tour of the grounds then continued on.
As we started climbing the mountains to the Priorato region the temperature started dropping and we entered thick fog. The mountain views were obscured by the fog and gave the area an eerie, forbidding feeling. Priorato was a well known wine region in years past but with time became abandoned as conditions there were tough and it was hard to make a profit from the mountainous, rocky land. In the last decade, the heavy, concentrated wine from the region started winning international awards and getting high scores because it is a style that the American and British consumer values. The prestige has attracted many new wineries to the area which are making more of a high alcohol, fruit forward wine for the export market.
As we continued the fog started burning off and vineyards started appearing on the stony hillsides. We explored the small towns and walked through the mountain vineyards.
Unfortunately for us all of the wineries in the area were closed due to it being the holiday season so we had to enjoy the beautiful views and visit the picturesque small towns instead of wine tasting. We did get to taste a few local wines in local restaurants that were open and they were big, rich and more of a Napa style then most of the Spanish wines we had tasted. It was a fantastic experience, driving with Salvador and winding through the mountainous landscapes, and seeing the vineyards growing in such a stark and inhospitable place.
After many hours of exploration we headed towards the coast and stopped in Tarragona. Tarragona is a big, industrial city which is known for its history as a Roman enclave. Salvador had gone to the university there and was a great tour guide. It had a picturesque old town and nice old ruins.
After grabbing dinner in Tarragona it was very late and headed back to Salvador’s house. It had been a very full day and we covered a lot of miles. But it was worth every second of it as we got to explore a very special and less visited corner of Spain.
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