Clos Berenguer

Clos Berenguer is a small, family-owned winery based in El Molar in the Priorat, founded in 1999 by Francesc Berenguer and Cristina Canalda. The winery was established as a tribute to Francesc's parents and grew out of the family's passion for the land and wine of Priorat. From the beginning, the intention was to make wines exclusively from grapes grown on the family's own vineyards rather than buying fruit from elsewhere. The cellar sits among the vineyards and is divided between the winemaking area and a second building containing the offices, barrel cellars and a tasting room housed in a rather unusual old manganese mine. Today, winemaker Gil Núñez leads the production, working with the family to make a relatively small range of wines that are firmly rooted in the landscape around El Molar.

The estate's vineyards are particularly interesting because they combine two very different soil types within a relatively compact area. Four adjoining vineyards, known as Les Sorts, Reboix, Solana and Tafall, form the Clos around the winery. Much of the estate is planted on licorella, the dark, fractured slate that is so characteristic of Priorat, while Finca Les Sorts sits on predominantly calcareous soils. The vines are oriented mainly east to west and experience the strong Mediterranean conditions of the region, with low rainfall and significant differences between daytime and nighttime temperatures. The slate soils are especially important to the character of the wines, allowing the vine roots to work their way into tiny cracks in the rock while providing the drainage needed in such a dry climate. The limestone parcels provide a contrasting element, giving the winery the opportunity to blend fruit from quite different geological environments.

The vineyards contain a mixture of traditional Priorat varieties and international grapes. Garnatxa and Carinyena are at the heart of the estate, reflecting the area's traditional red varieties, alongside Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery also maintains white varieties including Garnatxa Blanca and Pedro Ximénez. The family places considerable importance on maintaining the different varieties within the individual vineyards rather than simplifying the planting solely around the most commercially successful grapes. Farming is described as integrated with the natural environment, with the estate deliberately avoiding increasing the production per vine. The idea is that keeping yields under control and allowing the vines to mature naturally gives better fruit and ultimately more expressive wines.

The wines are generally made in a traditional Priorat style, with fermentation taking place in stainless-steel tanks before the wines move into French oak for maturation. The estate's flagship wines are built around blends of Garnatxa, Carinyena, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, with the different varieties bringing their own contribution to the final wine. Clos de Tafall, for example, combines all four and spends around 12 months in French oak. Other cuvées push further into individual varieties and parcels: Selecció focuses on old Garnatxa and Carinyena alongside selected Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, while Selecció Syrah is made entirely from carefully selected Syrah grown on two concrete-vineyard sites. At the other extreme, wines such as ED are produced in tiny quantities from hand-selected fruit and receive extended ageing in new French oak.

Although Priorat is capable of producing very powerful wines, Clos Berenguer's position and vineyard management give the wines an important element of freshness alongside the concentration. The combination of low rainfall, altitude, the coolness of the night and the varied soils helps the grapes achieve phenolic ripeness while retaining acidity. The resulting reds have the dark fruit, spice and mineral character expected from Priorat, but the different vineyards and varieties provide plenty of variation within the range. The estate's commitment to its own old vineyards is particularly important here: rather than constructing a wine from purchased fruit, Clos Berenguer is working with a relatively fixed collection of vines and soils year after year, allowing the personality of the estate to become increasingly clear.

Clos Berenguer is therefore a good example of the family-scale side of modern Priorat, where the dramatic landscape and difficult vineyard conditions remain central to the wine rather than simply forming the backdrop to a brand. The winery has grown its range over the years, but the underlying approach remains consistent: work its own old vines, preserve the different varieties and soils found within the estate, and use careful ageing to build structure and complexity. That philosophy has produced some serious recognition too, with Clos de Tafall included in Wine Spectator's 2023 Top 100 wines, scoring 92 points and being the only Catalan winery included that year. For a relatively small family estate in El Molar, it is a pretty good indication of the quality that can come from these vineyards.