Black Slate Celler Cal Pla, Priorat

Garnacha / Carineña / Cabernet Sauvignon

Priorat, Spain

Joan Sangenís is descended from eight generations of unruly locals who farmed various crops in Porrera. His family started making wine in 1814, and until 1996, they sold their wines in bulk to the village residents and the local cooperative. Joan’s parents, Jaume and Mercé, who both still tend to the family’s vines, purchased Mas d’En Compte in 1988, greatly expanding their vineyard land. Along with this purchase came an ancient, ruined house in the village they renovated, intending to bottle their own wines.

The Sangenís family farms 20 hectares of vines located around Porrera. Their oldest vines of Garnatxa Negra and Carinyena are located in the famed Mas d’En Caçador vineyard, arguably the village’s Grand Cru. The remaining vines vary in age from 15 to 80 years old. Farming is done organically, which may sound easy in such a warm and dry climate until you see the steepness of some of their sites – here, any kind of farming is arduous. In addition to Garnatxa Negra and Carinyena, the estate grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnatxa Blanca, Xarel.lo, Picapoll Blanca, Macabeu, and Moscatel.