The Territori
Talking about the territory or the landscape of a place is always a difficult task, given the complexity of the factors involved and the many visions that can be made of it.
But if the Priorat has anything, it is exceptional. No one can escape on a walk through the territory in front of a unique landscape, with characteristics that make it very different from any other place, despite having orographic or agronomic similarities.
Here, in the DOQ Priorat, the climate and the soil have been combined to define a landscape that may not be attractive to some people, but may be able to seduce others. Indifference will never be a defining characteristic. But like any landscape, the hand of man is present and gives it a personal touch, it is the obvious symbol of the effort of work in a difficult and difficult terrain, which can do nothing but transform into a special landscape. At the end of it all, the main feature that defines the landscape of the DOQ Priorat is the uniformity: any of the enclosures, slopes, slopes, streams, orchards, paths, the same huts or farmhouses, have a characteristic touch and authentic that identifies them with what is the essence of the Priorat. It is known that it is located in a specific and defined space, a territory with a tradition, tradition and spectacular scenery. It is the territory of the slate, which suddenly passes from the mountains with gentle ridges to slopes with impassable slopes, where the observer wonders how at any time someone has dared to plant a vineyard…
The DOQ Priorat forms a compact and well-defined landscape unit, made up of the large mountain amphitheater that stretches at the foot of the Montsant mountain range, the slate lithology of its slopes and the treatment that has always been given in the agricultural field, which has remained almost intact until recent times.
The topography of this area means that the vineyard has to be cultivated on such steep slopes that, in some cases, it requires the construction of terraces.
The landscape generated by these vineyards is one of the characteristic features of the Priorat that give it such a strong personality.
The landscape is in itself a value of the cultural expression of the territory, so that it is the most important means to assimilate the essence of the character and the way of understanding the life of the people who live and work in that space. In this sense, and in order to protect this value for future generations, certain cultural practices in land use planning are regulated by the Priorat Protected Designation of Origin through internal regulations on landscaping. In short, the landscape of the Priorat Qualified Designation of Origin is the visual expression of the harsh relationship between human action and the environment, of its cultural trace on space, becoming a profound sign of identity of their wines and the way they are made.
Much of the territory of the DOQ Priorat enjoys some type of landscape protection, whether as a Special Plan of Natural Interest (PEIN); Natura 2000 Network; or as part of the territory included in the Serra de Montsant Natural Park.
