Robb Report looks at vineyards of Celler Vall Llach – with nice results.
That anything liquid should issue from Priorat seems to the first-time visitor an unlikely prospect. Despite this Catalonian region’s two rivers, the Montsant and Siruana, its arid terrain of jagged peaks, rugged mesas, and dusty slopes is prone to drought. Yet, in 1994, Priorat ran to the opposite extreme when one of its towns, Porrera, suffered a devastating flood. “The severe flooding really destroyed almost all of the town and a lot of the vines,” says Catalan songwriter and singer Lluís Llach through a translator. “There was a severe economic depression. I thought about what I could do to bring life back into the town and to boost the economy. My friend Enric Costa and I decided to found a winery there. And so,” he adds wryly, “Celler Vall Llach was born out of an excess of water.” – From Robb Report