Wine & Food

What people eat in Priorat is mostly shaped by what this rugged land provides: not much meat, but intensely seasoned, along with plenty of the region's own olive oil. Around Falset and the surrounding villages, this oil even carries its own quality seal, the Denominación de Origen Siurana, pressed mainly from the Arbequina variety.

One dish found almost nowhere else is cargols a la llauna: snails cooked directly on a metal tray over glowing embers, served open with allioli or romesco for dipping. The smoke from the embers and the heat of the sauce call for a wine that can stand up to both without being overwhelmed itself.

That's exactly what romesco delivers, the Catalan sauce made from roasted tomatoes, almonds, hazelnuts and dried ñora peppers. It's served with almost everything in Priorat: grilled lamb, rabbit, simple fire-roasted vegetables. It's robust enough to hold its own alongside a dense Priorat red, rather than being lost beneath it.

Grilled lamb, known in Catalan as xai, brings enough fat along to soften the firm tannin of the Samsó grapes. Fat coats the tongue, and tannin that would otherwise feel rough simply glides over it, almost like soap sliding over oily skin. Without that fat, the very same wine would taste bitter and harsh alongside something as light as a salad.

Not every dish can handle this kind of power. Paired with delicate fish or pale vegetables, a heavy Priorat red quickly becomes overwhelming. That's where the region's rare white Priorats, made from Garnacha Blanca, come in, offering less weight and a subtle herbal note. Anyone with both colors in their cellar rarely has to skip a wine from the region, no matter what's on the plate.