The Priorat winery to whom luck has smiled twice

GratallopsAfter a series of twists and turns, and enjoying the beauty of Priorat, both humble and exuberant, I arrive at the Clos de l’Obac winery. Carles Pastrana receives us at the entrance. He is an affable and amusing man. We joke, because by profession he was also a journalist, but life had other plans for him: to be part of the revolution that the region would experience. A region that went from misery to creating some of the most valued wines in the world. To achieve this, the blend was as follows: many years of work and doing things according to his criteria, a pinch of recklessness, and two strokes of luck.

Let's start with the first stroke of luck. Carles' brother, Josep Maria, is a great collector of ceramics. He had so much that one day he held an exhibition in Tarragona right next to the cathedral. "And a guy comes in and says to me, 'Do you remember me, Carles?'" It was a childhood friend: René Barbier, a great architect of what would happen in this land of slate and hills. At that moment they re-established contact, and Barbier asked him if he wouldn't be encouraged to get into this fascinating world of wine. The seed was planted, and after some time, it germinated.

Carles and his wife, Mariona Jarque, bought a sheep farm, split the building with Barbier, and began the adventure. "There isn't even a traffic light in Priorat," he exemplifies. No one in their circle understood what they were going to do there, in the poorest area of Catalonia. "We didn't have any money, and believe me, we were looking for it," he says. Since they also lacked technical knowledge, Mariona went to study oenology in Falset, even though she already had two young children, Guillem and Iona. They also found support, like that of the wise man of the land, Isidre Sanahuja. Carles shows me the winery, where the entire process is done by gravity, not by pumping the wine. He also shows me the system for utilizing Priorat's own cold as a stabilizer and the French oak barrels, which they change every year. The winery is full of artistic details, proof of Mariona's good taste, who had studied at the Massana School.

In 1989 they established the winery and in 1990 the first wine, Clos de l’Obac, was released. With a whole group they created an agricultural society: René Barbier, Toni Basté, Fernando Garcia, Josep L. Pérez, Antonio Rosario, Adrian Garsed and Luc Van Iseghem. Since not enough wine came out of the first harvest, they decided to share it and each put their own label on it. And then came the second stroke of luck. One day they received a call. They were informed that that wine – the one with their label – appeared in the 1993 World Guide as one of the 150 best wines in the world. How had a bottle of theirs reached the United States? We don't know, but the fact is that at that moment everything took off.

Luck for those who work for it

This does not mean that everything is now a piece of cake, emphasizes Guillem Pastrana. The son of Carles and Mariona, a lawyer by profession, is now the director of the winery. All the production from Clos de l’Obac is sold. Many bottles directly to the final consumer. Like a gentleman from Cyprus, who comes every year and takes a case. But selling his wine in 32 countries is not an easy task. Guillem travels a lot. When I see him, he is about to leave for South Korea, and then he will go to Brazil.

They are currently selling the 2016 vintage of Clos de l’Obac. “We want to make a fantastic wine based on the characteristics of the vintage”, says Carles. This means that the composition of the bottle is always the same: 35% grenache, 35% cabernet sauvignon, 10% syrah, 10% merlot, and 10% carignan. If one year there is little of a variety, less production is made and that's it, says Carles, who assures that only in this way can we appreciate the differences between vintages. The same concept applies to the rest of the wines they produce. Like Miserere, which has this name in homage to the monks who toiled in Priorat. "Miserere mei, Deus", they used to say. "Have mercy on me, my God". Or the extraordinary white wine they make: Kyrie. It is such a well-rounded wine that the privileged noses at Almah Parfums 1948 have turned it into a perfume. They have used Damask rose, clove, coriander, or Arabian jasmine. The vines that will give life to the Kyrie wine are those around the Mas d'en Bruno hotel. Land that is their property and is now a Relais & Châteaux hotel.

The Pastrana-Jarques are not interested in appearing on lists or being rated. “With wine, the truth is not explained, it is revealed”, says Pastrana senior. “Ratings were a good reference in the 90s”, says Pastrana junior, who assures that what they want is “authenticity, not popularity”. And he goes further. They are who they are: “We don't make Priorat, we make Clos de l’Obac”, he concludes.