Pasanau

Making mountain wines in Priorat.

Bodega Pasanau is the wine project of the namesake family, established in Poboleda, one of the historic villages of DOQ Priorat, since the year 1850. After the devastation caused by the phylloxera plague, which wiped out all the vineyards in the region, in 1940 Mr. Joan Pasanau Garcia embarked on the task of recovering the family estate, which he replanted with the Grenache and Carignan grape varieties.

Four decades later, Joan, Albert and Ricard Pasanau, the fourth generation of the family, took charge of the vineyards, planted new grape varieties and introduced modern cultivation methods. The 50+-year-long process culminated in 1995, when the Pasanau brothers built the current headquarters of the Pasanau winery in La Morera del Montsant, at a driving distance of 15 minutes from Poboleda.

Cultivated with organically certified techniques and using vegetal cover to protect the soil from erosion and enhance microbial life, the estate vineyards of Bodega Pasanau are located between Poboleda and La Morera del Montsant, up to 740 metres above sea level. The low and mid-altitude vineyards - Vinyes de Poboleda, Finca Los Torrents and El Coster del Maset - have the typical llicorella (slate) soils from Priorat. From 600 metres upwards - the vineyards located in La Morera del Montsant and the Les Myriams and La Planeta lieux-dits – have silex-rich clay soils and calcareous loam soils. The area has a Mediterranean climate with a Continental influence, characterized by scorchingly hot summers, scarce rainfall and extreme temperature differences between day and night.

The winery grows mainly the traditional Priorat varieties Grenache and Carignan, which are the building blocks of most of the wines by Celler Pasanau. Besides, there are two international varieties worth mentioning: Viognier, the sole component of the one white wine in the Pasanau portfolio, and Cabernet Sauvignon grown in Finca La Planeta, a vineyard planted in 1985 at 740 metres of altitude that is the origin of the winery's namesake flagship wine. As regards winemaking, Bodega Pasanau follows strictly traditional methods: the grapes are fermented in stainless steel tanks, and the wines are aged in French oak barrels.

Year of foundation: 1995
Address: C/. La Bassa s/n
City: La Morera de Montsant
Province: Tarragona
Zip code: 43361
Country: Spain
Phone number: 34 977 827 202
www.cellerpasanau.com
Guided visits? Yes
Wine tourism services? No