Alfredo Arribas

The famous Spanish architect, Alfredo Arribas, has a grand passion for wine and he organized the construction of his winery, Portal del Priorat. This avant-garde style building was completed in 2001 and it is completely integrated into the landscape with a special designed that provides for breathtaking views.

This winery has the Villa Clos del Portal vineyards, which is a 40 hectare estate with over 15 hectares of old and low-yielding Grenache and Carignan (Cariñena) grapevines. Overtime this vineyard has also expanded to cultivating Syrah grapes along with experimental grape varietals. This vineyard is located in El Molar and it is directed by the enologist Juan Asens. Juan Asens practices only organic cultivation and just like this winery, the goal of the cultivation is to have as little human intervention as possible. The winery realizes this goal with short macerations, fermentations that utilize native yeasts, and expressive oak barrel ageing that brings out the true character of the grapes year after year. We can always see the Alfredo Arribas winery´s philosophy in their wines as this winery has a passion for authenticity, for pure expressions of their licorella soils, and the unique terroir of Clos del Priorat.

The experience of the Clos del Portal vineyards in the Priorat DO has been reflected with their pre-phyloxera grapevines from the neighboring Montsant DO. Alfredo Arribas named this project “Trossos”, which can be translated to mean terroirs.   

The first wines of this vineyard were Tros Blanc and Tros Negre, which are two single varieties of Grenache Blanc and Grenache Noir. After this the winery produced Trossos Sants and Trossos Vells, which were crafted from Grenache Blanc, Grenache, Carignan (Cariñena), and Grenache Noir, all of which were cultivated from old grapevines. These wines were crafted to be vintage wines, but while they keep their classic touch they have a unique character of Alfredo Arribas wines with their extreme expression of their terroir and each of their varietals.

Driven by his inquisitive spirit, Alfredo Arribas recently started a new project in Priorat: Mas de l’A – La Morera. Situated in the village of La Morera de Montsant, an area with a rich diversity of soils, this small batch winery focuses its production on Grenache wines - in its four different variants: Red Grenache, White Grenache, Grey Grenache and Hairy Grenache. Farmed with sustainable techniques.

• Year of foundation: 2001
• Dirección: Pista del Molar a Bellmunt
• Ciudad: El Molar
  
• Province: Tarragona
• Zip Code: 43736
  
• Country: Spain
• Phone number: 34 932 531 760
  
• www.closdelportal.com
• Guided visits? No
• Wine tourism services?  No

Designation of origin:

DOQ Priorat, DO Montsant.

Red varieties:

Carignan, Grenache, Hairy Grenache, Grenache Roja, Syrah.

White varieties:

White Grenache, Grey Grenache.