Clos Galena

With the founding of the Clos Galena organic winery, Miguel Pérez Cerrada fulfilled a long-cherished dream of one day producing some of the best, real, true organic wines in a region.

Miguel Pérez Cerrada was a pharmacist, university professor and was closely linked to a homeland around Tarragona for family and emotional reasons. He was particularly impressed by the Priorat wine-growing region, parts of which still seemed very primitive to him. He pursued his dream of one day being a winemaker producing some of the finest wines. Training as an oenologist should qualify him for this.

In search of suitable vineyards, he and his wife Merche Dalmau found what they were looking for near El Molar, a small town in the. They were 21 hectares of land surrounded by forest and pastures, which could be reached via a dirt road. They bought these lands, called Domini de Cartoixa, which originally belonged to the Carthusian monastery founded in 1163. Of these, they planted 11 hectares with vines, built a visually simple wine cellar that they technically
modern equipped with the best equipment. Today (2023) Clos Galena has 30 hectares of vineyards.

The vines grow on Licorella soil, which is weathered, permeable slate rock on the surface. The climate is influenced by the Mediterranean, with humid winds from the Mediterranean, which not all grape varieties tolerate well (Cariñena), which are why they were planted in locations sheltered from the wind. Drought and heat necessitate drip irrigation of young vines. Overall, the harvest per vine is only 0.5 to 1 kg of grapes.

Just 14 years later, Miguel Pérez died at the age of 54. Now his wife with three small daughters was faced with the question of how to proceed. When her husband was still alive, he wished that one of the daughters would one day continue the winery. However, friends advised her to sell the winery. Since she was also passionately involved in the development of Clos Galena, she decided to take over the management of the winery. Together with a technically well-trained, motivated and reliable team, led by Toni Coca, who is responsible for the vineyards and the wine cellar, this great dream lives on with great success.

Since then it has produced some extraordinary, unique organic wines that give an idea of the land, the soil, the climate, the weather, the grape varieties and their dedicated care. They are organic wines that radiate the sensuality of the Priorat, but they are not powerhouses and no monuments that neither overwhelm your taste buds nor your bank account.

Actually, the name of the winery should be Domini de Cartoixa, but after the best wine was named Clos Galena (after the famous stone of the region), the whole wine world only talked about Clos Galena.

Nobel Prize Dinner 2017 in Stockholm with Clos Galena organic wine

A special attention is paid to Clos Galena, as one of its organic wines, the Formiga de Vellut, was served on December 10, 2017 at the Nobel Prize Dinner in Stockholm.

Grape varieties Clos Galena, Domini de Cartoixa

• Garnacha tinta                       
• Garnacha blanca
• Cariñena
• Cabernet Sauvignon, see phop to the right:
• Merlot
• Syrah