In Priorat Torres pays homage to the pioneers of viticulture

Salmos 2016 Priorat is an intense and seductive wine, and even better on the day after opening. Dark, ruby red colour. On the nose a violet floral note, lots of spices, blackberry, red and black cherry aromas, oak and vanilla. Beautifully balanced, lively on the palate with a depth of flavours. Soft, velvety tannins. Black fruit, dried prunes, liquorice, mineral, stony influences too. Oak well integrated. Round, long finish.

The prestigious International Wine Challenge not only awarded the Torres Salmos 2016 with 95 points and a gold medal but this red blend from Cariñena, Garnacha and Syrah also gained the title best Priorat wine.

Priorat has been a source for wine for almost a millennium. Winemaking emerged around 1095 when Carthusian monks established a ‘Priorat’ (the Catalan word for priory) and started to plant vines. In 1835 the monastery was sacked, and the church lands later auctioned off. In the late 19th century Phylloxera further deteriorated winemaking in Priorat. Priorat is a very steep and rocky kind of area and an arduous place for viticulture. Costers are the ancient way of cultivating vines on the steep slopes. The densely planted vines move up the treacherous hillsides naturally shaping their contours. Most of the 20th century the steep slate hills southwest of Barcelona with their ancient costers produced only cheap, robust, tannic wine. 

Young French and Spanish winemakers propelled Priorat’s rediscovery in the 1980s and 1990s. They recognized the potential of the old garnacha and cariñena vines planted in what the Catalans call llicorella, the hard, stony soils of black and brown slate that occasionally sparkle due to quartz.

One of those wine making families was the family Torres, although Torres already in the early 1920s traded in regional Priorat wines. In 1996 the Torres Family planted their first vineyards on the llicorella slopes in the municipalities of Porrera and Lloar. The vineyards show extreme diurnal differences between day and night temperature and these natural fluctuations add to Salmos’ balance between on the one hand power and on the other elegance and finesse. In short, Salmos 2016 is a beautiful vinous homage to the monks of the courageous Carthusian order.