Priorat

Priorat is one of Spain's most prestigious red-wine regions — and one of only two, alongside Rioja, to hold the country's top classification, DOQ (Denominació d'Origen Qualificada). Its calling card is a powerful, concentrated red built on old-vine Garnacha and Cariñena, grown on steep terraces of llicorella, the dark slate-and-quartz soil that forces the vines deep and gives the wines their mineral intensity. Production is small and comes mostly from tiny, low-yielding parcels, which is why Priorat's best bottles rank among Spain's rarest and most sought-after.

The region sits inland in the province of Tarragona, roughly 130 kilometers southwest of Barcelona, and is best explored by car. Its dozen stone villages — Gratallops at the center, plus Porrera, Torroja and Poboleda, and Scala Dei, named for the 12th-century Carthusian monastery that first brought viticulture here — are ringed by the larger DO Montsant. A wave of pioneering winemakers revived Priorat in the late 1980s and 1990s, and today many of its cellars welcome visitors for tastings. Harvest runs September into October.