A car pulls up next to ours and the woman driving moves her hand in circles, giving us the universal symbol to roll down our window.

“Eres Nicole?”

This question would not normally surprise me – that is my name after all – but at that particular moment, Greg and I were in the remote hilltop town of Gratallops in the Priorat region of Catalunya, Spain. I was fairly shocked to have anyone looking for me. I was also incredibly relieved because we were completely lost.

It was Thanksgiving Day 2013, and we’d left Barcelona that morning with plenty of time to reach our destination in Priorat, which was supposed to be about a two-hour drive away. While Priorat is not far from Barcelona as the crow flies, it’s a mountainous region and the narrow winding roads take a while to navigate. All the same, we’d made good time for most of the drive and I called our first winery appointment at Costers del Siurana when our TomTom said we were 30 minutes away to say we’d be there on time. I spoke too soon. An hour and a half later we were still circling trying to figure out how to get to our destination.

We’d been given map coordinates to plug into the TomTom and knew we were in the right general area. We kept driving around and around the particular mountaintop in question, but for the life of us, we could not find the road to get to the winery. We could even see our destination sitting on top of the hill, both beckoning and taunting us. We’d driven down vineyard roads around the hilltop and all around Gratallops, where the winery is located, but the turn towards the winery remained hidden. I considered just abandoning the car and walking up the hill to reach the winery, but those hills are steep and very rocky – not to mention that we would’ve probably looked crazy. To top things off, we could not get a signal on our cellphones to call the winery and hadn’t seen many people we could ask for directions, so we were just stuck and feeling pretty desperate when that car pulled up.

We circled round and round the town of Gratallops.

Our savior was Mariona Jarque, one of the owners of Costers del Siurana, and she’d come out as a search party of one to retrieve us. It turns out a neighbor had seen a strange car driving all around (that’s how small the town is – everyone knows everyone’s car), figured it was a visitor to the winery, and called them to say that their guests were probably lost. It turns out that a construction truck had been blocking the small road we’d been looking for, so just kept driving right by it.

All's well that ends well, and now that we’d been rescued we were on our way to a very good day of tasting. This particular hilltop is home to two of the region’s benchmark wineries – Costers del Siurana, which makes Clos de l’Obac, and Clos Mogador.

PRIORAT

Name: Cauliflower Curry
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon cumin seeds; 1 medium head cauliflower (about 1 pound), cut into large florets (about 4 cups); 1 large onion, diced; 1 tablespoon ground coriander; ½ teaspoon turmeric; 1 teaspoon garam masala; ¼ teaspoon dried red-pepper flakes; ¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder (optional); 1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes; 1 13.5-oz can coconut milk; 1 teaspoon salt, or as needed; 1 to 2 cups shredded chicken (optional); 1 cup frozen petite peas; Cooking oil, as needed; (Optional additions: potatoes, cilantro)

Priorat's story has to be one of the best comeback tales in the world of wine. Winemaking history here dates back to the 12th century when the Carthusian Monks established the Monastery of Scala Dei, from which the region gets its name (priory = priorat in Catalan, priorato in Spanish). The monks brought from Provence techniques for winemaking and established viticulture in the area and they prospered for several centuries.

Sadly, the 1800s brought one blow after another to winemaking in the region. People in the region grew tired of paying taxes to the monastic order and unrest began to rise. The monastery was eventually stripped of its lands, and the people took their aggression out on the monastery buildings.

Some winemaking continued on a smaller scale for the next few decades, but then phylloxera hit the region in 1893 and it completely decimated the region. Priorat’s environment with its rocky terrain and intense continental climate is pretty harsh with long, hot, dry summers and cold winters. It’s tough terrain to work, mechanization is nearly impossible as the vineyards are planted on steep terraces, and the conditions altogether are rough on the vines leading to extremely low yields. Many people opted to leave for opportunities in cities like Barcelona and Tarragona, rather than replant. By the mid-twentieth century, quality winemaking was pretty much gone from the area, leaving only cooperatives that were pretty much just making mass-production wine.

Olive trees (I think) by Clos Mogador in Priorat with terraced vineyards in the background. You cane see the super poor, rocky soils of the region.

Just at this moment when it seemed Priorat would slip forever into obscurity, a group of hippies, dreamers, and academics entered the scene to rescue the historic region. This small band of visionary winemakers saw potential in the many small vineyards, many of which now had old vines, that lay abandoned. Those unique, rocky soils are based on llicorella, which is a type of slate mixed with quartz. It’s porous and doesn’t retain water well, so vines have to grow deep roots to tap into water. It creates a special terroir signature in the wines. As well, while the conditions here lead to low-yielding vines, it also means that the grapes that do grow produce intensely flavored juice.

Here you can better see the super steep terraced vineyards of the region in the background.

René Barbier, who came from a winemaking family, was the first of this group of winemakers to arrive in Priorat and see the possibilities. He started out making wine for himself from purchased grapes and then planted a small vineyard of his own in 1978. He also began to incorporate French varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. Barbier was a winemaker for Alvaro Palacios (also from a famous winemaking family, but struck out on his own) and he convinced Palacios and several other winemakers to join him. The group began buying up vineyards together and initially shared equipment and facilities in Gratallops, making wine bottled under five different labels. The effort became known as the Gratallops Project. The group adopted the use of “clos” the French word for a walled vineyard, and the original “Big Five” were René Barbier’s Clos Mogador, Costers del Siurana’s Clos de l’Obac, Álvaro Palacios’ Clos Dofi (now Finca Dofí, and he also makes L’Ermita, one of Spain’s most famous wines), Clos Martinet from Mas Martinet , and Clos Erasmus from Clos & Terrasses. They produced carefully made wines featuring complex blends aged in French oak barrels. (Note: Others were involved in the early stages of the project, and Clos de l'Obac's website lays things out a bit differently, but these are the wineries that are typically listed as the initial Big Five.)

The group’s efforts paid off and quickly. The group produced its first bottlings in 1989 and by the late 90s, they’d begun to win worldwide acclaim. Other small estates began to pop up and join in the efforts and Priorat gained stardom as a quality wine region, so much so that it was eventually elevated to DOCa (DOQ in Catalan) – it’s the only region besides Rioja to achieve Spain’s top classification tier.

A classic Priorat red wine is made from old-vine Garnacha (Grenache) and Cariñena (Carignan/ Mazuelo), often blended with small amounts of French varieties. It’s one of the few famous wine regions to base its wines on Grenache, the Southern Rhône being the other most notable example. Thanks to those gnarly old vines with their low yields, the wines tend to be bold and powerful, deep, dark, and structured, with notes of ripe to sun-dried red and black fruits, licorice, tar, and intense minerality. Sadly, since the growing conditions are so tricky, the wines also tend to be a bit on the pricier side, but not necessarily exorbitant. It’s hard to find many quality examples under $20, but you can start to find good versions in the $20-$30 range and they climb on up from there.

A small amount of white wine is made in the region as well, but we’ll look at that more closely in my next post.

Note: Tastings at these wineries may have been comped as a member of the wine industry.

Costers del Siurana and Clos de l’Obac

Once Mariona Jarque rescued us from perpetually circling Gratallops, we made our way to Costers del Siurana where we had the chance to meet and taste with her husband Carles Pastrana. Mariona is an enologist and Carles is a former journalist turned winemaker. They moved to Priorat in 1979 and joined René Barbier, who’d been a childhood friend of Carles', to begin establishing their wine project.

They began replanting vines along the banks of the river Siurana. Costers means “slopes”, giving the names to the winery. Despite the fact that Costers del Siurana is the official name, they are best known and often referred to as Clos de l’Obac, the name of their flagship wine. However, they make several others: Dolç de l’Obac, Miserere, and Kyrie.

Carles Pastrana and me outside Costers del Siurana.

As I mentioned, we visited and tasted with Carles, who was quite affable with a big personality and strong opinions. It was clear that he likes to work in a meticulous manner. Just the day before, we’d visited Rioja where we’d seen the cobwebby wine crypts covered in molds that were prized as integral to the winery ecosystem. Without naming names, Carles made it clear that he was having none of that. He wanted a pristine operation, and so it was.

Inside the squeeky clean winery at Costers del Siurana. In the background you can also see artwork on the walls – the winery tires to support artists.

Following suit, the wines are precisely made. Each of the wines is made by blending the same varieties in the same percentages each year. The goal is to showcase the characteristics of the specific vintage, rather than the differences that might show up by blending. (Surplus wines are used to make a second line called Usatges.)

The wines also go through a very particular aging process. Once the winemaking process has been completed, depending on the temperatures outside, the wines are allowed to rest for three or four months in their fermentation and storage vats in contact with the intense winter weather. This allows for a natural stabilization process to occur without the use of refrigeration. After this period, the wines are transferred via gravity flow to French oak casks in their aging room, where they’re allowed to age for 10-15 months, and are occasionally wracked manually by candlelight. During this period, the casks again are exposed to winter temperatures for additional, natural stabilization. Wines are clarified with egg whites.

Lab inside Costers del Siurana.

Carles shared several thoughts on what makes a truly great wine. Of course, longevity was a factor, and great wines should definitely be able to age quite a while. Moreover, Costers del Siurana regularly holds their wines back quite a few years before releasing them – the current vintages listed on their website for their reds are 2005 and 2006. In addition, he felt that a truly great wine should be able to remain relatively stable once opened for several days. To illustrate these points, he shared various back vintages, and also poured us a taste from a bottle that had been opened for a week as well. To his credit, the wine still tasted quite good and only slightly oxidized despite the fact that the bottle was less than half full. In general, the wines showed elegance and structure to match the care with which they were made.

I mentioned in my recent Rioja post, that my tasting notes from this trip have disappeared, so I'm not sure which specific vintages we had, but here are the basics on their four wines, based on their website.

Clos d l’Obac

Blend: 35% Grenache, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah, 10% Merlot, 10% Cariñena.
The fruit is sourced from seven vineyards (out of a total of eight estate vineyards) of varying altitudes and orientations, all located around the town of Gratallops. The Grenache and Cariñena vines are over 50 years old.

Miserere

Blend: 27% Grenache, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Tempranillo, 10% Merlot, 10% Cariñena.
Vines for this wine are more than 40 years old, planted in some of the finest slate soils in Priorat, giving the wine excellent structure and ageability.

Kyrie

Blend: 35% Grenache Blanc, 30% Macabeu, 30% Xarel•lo, 5% Muscat of Alexandria
These four classic white grapes of Catalunya used in this wine come from the small Kyrie vineyard, which has southern exposure. The optimum ripening of the four varieties, together with a slight maceration of the grape skins, gives Kyrie an exceptional structure and complexity as well as an exquisite finesse. Aged in new casks of French oak, it offers excellent expectations of long life and good development in the bottle over a period of many years.

Dolç de l’Obac
Blend: 80% Grenache, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah
The grapes for this dessert bottling come from the eighth of the estate’s vineyards, called Camp dels Espills. The grapes in this small property are left to over-ripen on their vines each year. Afterward, when their fermentation comes to a natural halt, a residual natural sugar is preserved that makes Dolç de l’Obac a very suitable wine for aging in the bottle which is unique worldwide and which forms an especially appropriate accompaniment for blue cheeses, foie-gras and bitter chocolate, among other delicacies.

In the US, the wines are basically only to be found by contacting their importer: info@obacimports.com.

Clos Mogador

After our tasting at Costers del Siurana, we strolled next door to tour and taste at Clos Mogador. We’ve already covered a lot of the winery’s history in the course of this post, as founder René Barbier is central to the Priorat story as a whole. To be specific, this is René Barbier III we've been talking about, who is now retired, and his son René Barbier IV, who had been working alongside his dad since 1992, has now taken over.

René Barbier IV has made a few changes of his own, and the wines are now made via native yeast fermentations, are using fewer barrels, and decreasing the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the wines. They’ve also been certified organic since 2012, and have been incorporating biodiverse and biodynamic farming methods. All vineyards are hand-harvested.

I think this was probably the first time I saw a concrete egg fermentation vessel.

The winery currently makes four wines, although one, COM TU, was added to the lineup after our visit, so we’ll focus on the others here.

Clos Mogador

Blend: Grenache, Carignan, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon (percentages might vary from vintage to vintage)
Clos Mogador is a vast amphitheater vineyard made of crumbling slate soils. The vines are surrounded by mountains and the lower parts of the vineyards run along the banks of the Siurana River.

Manyetes

Blend: 90% Carignan, 10% Grenache
Manyetes is an old-vine Carignan vineyard with the extremely poor soil of the region, intense sunlight, and bleak exposure. The Carignan vines struggle to survive in the parched earth but then produce excellent wines. The splash of Grenache is added to bring a touch of femininity.

Nelin

This is the winery’s white wine based ion Grenache Blanc, but we’ll be taking a closer look at this wine in my next post.

******

The rest of the World Wine Travel blogging group will be exploring wines from Catalunya, hosted by Susannah of Avvinare. If you see this post early enough, feel free to join us February 27, 2021 at 8:00 am PT /11:00am ET under the #WorldWineTravel hashtag on Twitter. Be sure to check out the rest of the group's posts:

Allison and Chris from Advinetures look at Cava: Spain’s Answer to Champagne.
Andrea from The Quirky Cork enjoys Tapas with Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Cava.
Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares Pollo a la Catalana + Alvaro Palacios Camins del Priorat 2019.
David from Cooking Chat shines with Mushroom Fricassee and Red Wine from Priorat.
Gwendolyn from Wine Predator brings Sparkling Wine Secrets: Catalonia Cava from Marqués de Cáceres with Spanish Chorizo Kale Bean Stew.
Jeff from Food Wine Click looks at Exploring the Variety of Still Wines from Catalunya.
Linda from My Full Wine Glass showcases Pere Mata Cupada Rosé Cava: Finesse in a Glass.
Lynn from Savor the Harvest posts Beyond Cava: Loxarel and Gramona Organic Sparkling Wines.
Martin from Enofylz Wine Blog waxes poetic about A Taste of Can Descregut; Grower Spanish Sparkling Wine From The Corazón del Penedès.
Melanie from Wining With Mel muses about Innovative Winemaking in Catalunya’s Penedès: Torres Gran Coronas Reserva.
Nicole from Somm's Table pens On a Hilltop in Priorat.
Payal from Keep The Peas joins with Bartender’s Choice from Priorat.
Robin from Crushed Grape Chronicles focused on Priorat DOQ in Spain’s Cataluña Region and Franck Massard’s 2015 Humilitat.
Steve from Children of the Grape describes Cava by the Sea.
Susannah from Avvinare thinks about Two Key Areas in Catalonia Wine Scene: Cava and Priorat.
Terri from Our Good Life dished about Chicken Empanadas and Azimut Cava.
Wendy from A Day in the Life on The Farm adds Enjoying Tapas with Spanish Wines from Catalonia.

Additional sources used for this post and further reading:

This post contains affiliate links, including these Amazon Associate links, from which I might receive a commission at no cost to you.

I generally try to keep politics out of this blog, but I must admit that I was quite euphoric on January 20, 2021. Not just euphoric, but also relieved like a huge weight had begun to lift. As a woman of color living in Oakland, I was also feeling a measure of pride that a woman of color born here had stepped into the vice president’s office. I know many of my friends felt the same way, regardless of their ethnicity. My all-lady tasting group decided to have a zoom party to celebrate the occasion.

We all decided that we’d each make or order in food that celebrated Kamala Harris’ background in some way, and we’d toast with wines that honored her in some way as well. (We also all wore RBG T-shirts I’d bought this small group for the holidays.) I decided I’d make an Indian curry and paired it with a really fresh sparkling wine made by a young black winemaker here in the Bay Area. Funny enough, 3 of the 4 of us on the Zoom call had wines from Bodkin Wines. Bubbles are their calling card, although they do make other styles, and I think most of us really felt that this occasion called for sparklers. (My friend Maura went in a different direction, opting instead for a wine from Rock Wall Wine Company in Alameda since Kamala Harris is a member of their wine club.)

Maura and Adriana joined me in sharing pairings in Three Takes On Theopolis Symphony. Our friend Marlene, who was on this call but was away during this photo, sells Bodkin's wines and arranged for Chris to virtually join our tasting group, although I wasn't able to join that particular meeting.

It was a really joyful celebration, even if we couldn’t get together in person.

BODKIN WINES

The first time I recall one of Bodkin’s wines really getting my attention was at a GuildSomm “Backroads of California” Masterclass in 2017. I don’t think it was the first time I’d had one of their wines, because I know we carried them periodically while I worked at Bay Grape, but at this particular tasting it really stood out to me. Most of the wines we tasted were good, as they’d been carefully selected and even included several favorites, but Bodkin’s Cuvee Agincourt Brut Blanc de Sauvignon Blanc ($25) stood out to me for its verve and its freshness. It was clean, crisp, and fun. The fact that their wines are very reasonably priced has allowed me to continue to enjoy them from time to time.

Bodkin was founded in 2011 by Iowa native Chris Christensen. Per their website, “His passion for aromatic wines and winemaking led him to create America’s first Sauvignon Blanc with bubbles.” Although Chris continues as the winemaker, in 2013 he was joined by Andrew Chambers as “Co-head Honcho,” and now they both live and work in Sonoma County.

Image borrowed from Bodkin's website.

Chris actually joined my tasting group virtually one evening, as last year we occasionally organized zoom tastings with a few winemakers. I sadly had to miss that particular event, which is really too bad as not only do I really enjoys his wines, but I’m also very drawn to the nerdy Shakespeare references all over his website. Specifically, the allusions are to Henry V and “bodkin” refers to the type of arrowhead used by Henry V’s forces in the epic Battle of Agincourt (also the cuvée name of that sparkling Sauv Blanc I mentioned). The company’s motto is “We few, we happy few,” which is a quote from the play’s famous St. Crispin's Day speech, and the red cross that’s the company’s logo is also a reference to the cross Henry’s men wore. I’ll turn down the nerdiness now, but it’s just to say that this all appeals to my Shakspeare-loving, former-English-major heart and I hope to get another chance to meet him.

It’s also clear that he’s a guy with grit and a sense of humor. Chris was featured in San Fransico Chronicle’s 2017 Winemakers to Watch, and the article shares this quote:

I love sparkling wine and I love Sauvignon Blanc, and if that makes me less of a man, so be it,” he laughs. “I grew up biracial in Iowa in the ’80s. I’m secure in who I am.

THE WINE & PAIRING

On Inauguration Day I opened a bottle of Bodkin’s The Fearless Blanc de Blanc ($25). I already had it on hand and it seemed to fit the occasion perfectly. This wine is a blend of 75% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Gris, 5% Chennin Blanc, 5% Sauvignon Blanc, with the majority of the grapes coming from Suisun Valley in Solano County, located between San Francisco and Sacramento. The dosage is kept to just 2.5g/L.

To be completely honest, I'm not sure if I purchased this bottle or if I got it from my friend Marlene, who reps these wines. Both have definitely happened, but I suspect this particular wine came from Marlene. I even see Bodkin wines offered fairly regularly offered on Wine.com, at least in CA.

On the nose, the wine showed notes of gold and green apples, lemon, and white flowers. These were joined on the palate by lime and grapefruit notes – a citrus cocktail. It was very refreshing and generally steely, but there was a little roundness in the mid-palate to round things out.

The wine worked very well with my Inauguration Day curry. My dish was basically a blend of two recipes I found on Food & Wine and Indian Healthy Recipes, along with a little improvisation. It was made up of cauliflower, tomatoes, coconut milk and savory spices. I also added shredded chicken, because I happened to have some on hand and welcomed the protein, but it’s definitely not needed if you prefer to go meat-less.

The wine counter balanced the flavors in the food in a nice way, and helped cleanse the palate after each complex, savory bite.

Curry, Cauliflower

dinner

Indian

Servings: 6 to 8

By: Nicole Ruiz Hudson

Cauliflower Curry

Prep Time: 10 MinCooking Time: 35 MinTotal Time: 45 Min

This is a very easy curry that comes together quickly. Don’t stress if you don’t have all of these spices. Feel free to omit things or get playful with what you have available., as that’s basically what I've done here. I added shredded chicken because I had some on hand, but it definitely doesn't need it, so feel free to leave it out to go meatless. Similarly, feel free to add potatoes, sweet potatoes, or other vegetables, as well as herbs like cilantro. Serve over rice.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 medium head cauliflower (about 1 pound), cut into large florets (about 4 cups)
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
¼ teaspoon dried red-pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder (optional)
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
1 13.5-oz can coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt, or as needed
1 to 2 cups shredded chicken (optional)
1 cup frozen petite peas
Cooking oil, as needed
(Optional additions: potatoes, cilantro)

Instructions

Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat, then once hot, add the cumin seeds to the dry pan. Toast the seeds until starting to turn fragrant and lightly browned, about 1 minute, shaking the pan often to stir the seeds. Once toasted, move the seeds to a mortar, then roughly crush with a pestle.
In a large deep frying pan, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the cauliflower and cook, stirring frequently, until the cauliflower starts to soften and brown lightly, about 5 minutes. Transfer the cauliflower temporarily out of the pan. (Alternatively, you can start the cauliflower by roasting it in the oven at 425°F.)
If needed, add more oil to the pan, then add the onions, and sweat until starting to soften and beginning to turn translucent. Add the spices to the pan and stir. Once everything is beginning to turn fragrant, return the cauliflower to the pan, then add the tomatoes, the coconut milk, and the salt and stir well to combine. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, then stir in the shredded chicken (if using) and cook, lightly covered, until everything is tender, about 15 minutes. Add the peas and continue cooking, uncovered, until the peas are tender, about 2 to 5 minutes longer.
Serve the curry over cooked basmati rice.

https://www.sommstable.com/2021/02/an-inauguration-day-toast-with-bodkin-and-cauliflower-curry.html

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @thesommstable on instagram and hashtag it #sommstable

*****

The rest of the Wine Pairing Weekend Bloggers (#WinePW) are joining me this Black History Month in Celebrating BIPOC Winemakers & Winery Owners. (You can read my invitation post for this event here.) If you read this post early enough, join us on Twitter tomorrow morning, Saturday, February 13th, at 8 am PT/ 11 am ET and join our discussion by following #WinePW. Be sure to check out the rest of their posts:

Truffle Chip-Crusted Goat Cheese Truffles + McBride Sisters Brut Rosé from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
The Many Talents of John Legend on A Day in the Life on the Farm
Family and Wine Go Together for These Black-owned Businesses from My Full Wine Glass
Black-Eyed Peas with Collard Greens and Maison Noir OPP by Cooking Chat
Where’s Linus Sauvignon Blanc with a Shaved Vegetable Salad, Crostini, and Scallops on Cauliflower Rice Risotto on Crushed Grape Chronicles
A Taste of Theopolis Vineyards from ENOFYLZ
Pairing Crab Legs with Carmen Stevens’ Sauvignon Blanc by Our Good Life
Meet Cheramie Law: Black, Female, and Founder of Texas’ Cheramie Wine from The Corkscrew Concierge
Sipping Wines from the McBride Sisters Black Girl Magic Line by Avvinare
Camins 2 Dreams: When a Chumash Winemaker Meets a Spanish One And Sparks Fly from Gwendolyn Alley, Wine Predator
And here on Somm’s Table, I’m sharing An Inauguration Day Toast with Bodkin The Fearless Blanc de Blanc and Cauliflower Curry

This post contains affiliate links, including these Amazon Associate links, from which I might receive a commission at no cost to you.

PRIORAT