In the year 2002, six families from the municipality of Poboleda (Priorat) with a long tradition in vine growing decided to join their efforts in order to make high quality wines from their own crops. All of them have day jobs outside of the bodega, but share the work in the vineyards and cellar to make the project succeed.
This winery is located in the basement of a house that dates back to 1265, which was the very first settlement of the Carthusian monks of Scala Dei. 15 hectares of vineyards are owned between all of the families. 7 hectares are Costers, 3 hectares of organically farmed vines (Ecologic) and 5 hectares of terraced vines on narrow terraces with two rows of vines each.
The varietal makeup of the vineyards includes Garnacha, Cariñena, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot. Costers vines were planted from 1910 and produce – 300 grams of grapes per vine. Younger vines were planted from 1980 on the terraces and produce between 900g and 1 kg per vine.
The goal of the winery is to produce wines with a typical character of Priorat based on the local Garnacha and Cariñena. Having vineyards in three different zones of Priorat (Poboleda, La Morera del Montsant and Torroja del Priorat) allows for different character, tone, complexity and personality in the wines.
Aging in oak is very important for the style of wine, as without it the wine would seem unfinished, but only light to medium toast is used so that wood flavors do not dominate.
The vines are mainly of Grenache and Cariñena and in smaller numbers Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon for the red wines. We also grown Pedro Ximenez and white Grenache for the white wines.
The majority of these vineyards are known as “costers”, which were planted between 1910 and 1980, with low production and output for each vine. Others were planted in terraces from the eighties till present time.
An important part of the production, which comes from one property, is declared and recognized by the C.C.P.A.E. (Catalan Council of Biological Agricultural Production) as biological (organic) and we make a biological wine with it.
The efforts of our work in the vines are to produce grapes exclusively for Genium wines, with a dedication and effort for producing healthy grapes of high quality. We keep taking care of the old vines on the slopes, in spite of the low output and high costs.
The younger vines, planted on terraces are trained to wires. We strictly prune these vines to keep yields low as well as pursuing green harvests with the goal of always aiming for high quality grapes with a strong mineralization.
