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Cellers Unio

Cellers Unió is a Reus-founded Catalan cooperative connecting 186 smaller cooperatives and around 20,000 families with wines from Montsant, Priorat, Terra Alta, Tarragona, Catalunya and Cava.

The producer

Founded in Reus in 1942, Cellers Unió now brings together 186 smaller cooperatives, including 20 with their own winemaking facilities, across 4,400 hectares of vineyards. Its 53-product portfolio moves across six Catalan categories, so the name covers several regional wine styles instead of one fixed profile.

Perlat Garnacha is the clearest Montsant reference: a monovarietal Garnacha aged for more than 10 months in oak, with rounded fruit, spice and delicate tannins. Llicorella Vitis 60 supplies the Priorat counterpoint, drawing on vines over 60 years old around Poboleda for darker mineral flavours and firmer tannins.

Known for

A broad Catalan cooperative range, with Perlat Garnacha as a monovarietal Montsant reference and Llicorella Vitis 60 as an old-vine Priorat red.

Notable facts

The story

Constituted at Teatre Fortuny

On 26 October 1942, Unió was formally constituted during a grand event at Reus's Teatre Fortuny, the city's Art Nouveau theatre. The date and building place the cooperative's beginning inside a specific civic occasion. Reus was the setting, Teatre Fortuny was the venue, and the organisation took shape there as a cooperative. Its later wines carried that name into southern Catalonia, where the group now connects smaller cooperatives, vineyards and several appellations. The founding record contains no legend to add: one date, one theatre and the formal act that began Cellers Unió.

From the atlas

Cellers Unió

At A Glance

Cellers Unió is a Catalan cooperative founded in Reus in 1942. Its network brings together 186 smaller cooperatives and around 20,000 families in southern Catalonia and Majorca, covering 4,400 hectares of vineyards. The current portfolio lists 53 products across Priorat, Montsant, Tarragona, Terra Alta, Catalunya and Cava, from monovarietal Garnacha to old-vine Priorat reds.

The Producer

Cellers Unió began in Reus as a cooperative wine organisation, then grew into a network linking local production with several Catalan appellations. Twenty of its 186 member cooperatives have their own winemaking facilities, so the group combines shared reach with separate cellar bases. The scale is visible in the range: the same name can lead to a DO Montsant Garnacha, a Priorat red, a Cava or a wine from Terra Alta.

Perlat Garnacha gives the group its most direct grape and place reference. It is presented as a monovarietal Garnacha from DO Montsant, aged for more than 10 months in oak. Cellers Unió also makes Llicorella Vitis 60, a Priorat wine from vines over 60 years old around Poboleda. One bottle leads with rounded Garnacha fruit; the other moves toward darker mineral flavours and firmer tannin.

Place

Reus is the cooperative's founding city, where Unió was formally constituted at Teatre Fortuny on 26 October 1942. The wines, however, come from a wider Catalan geography. The Cellers Unió winery serving DO Montsant is in Els Guiamets, in the southern part of Montsant, while Llicorella Vitis 60 is tied to old vines around Poboleda in Priorat.

That distinction changes what appears on the label. DO Montsant identifies the appellation around the Els Guiamets operation and supports the place name carried by Perlat Garnacha. Priorat places a different regional designation beside the old-vine Llicorella Vitis 60. Reus names the cooperative's origin; Montsant and Priorat name the wine's regional setting.

Soil And Site

The documented geography is specific even where soil details are not. Perlat Garnacha is connected to the southern Montsant area through the winery at Els Guiamets, and its Garnacha fruit is shaped in the cellar by more than 10 months in oak. Llicorella Vitis 60 comes from vines over 60 years old around Poboleda, and its darker mineral flavour and firmer tannin belong to that Priorat bottle. These are different site references with different label roles and different sensations in the glass.

Story

The cooperative's history moves through a series of bottle and appellation milestones. In 1954, after the legal creation of DOQ Priorat, Cellers Unió bottled its first Priorat wine with the official seal. The appellation moved from legal framework to physical bottle, giving the cooperative an early connection to protected Priorat wine.

Cellers Unió began selling abroad in 1970, extending those Catalan bottles beyond their home region. In the early 2000s, it actively participated in the creation of DO Montsant. In 2008, it presented its first organic wines. The sequence runs from cooperative formation to sealed appellation wine, export, a newer appellation, and an organic range milestone.

Vineyards And Cellar

Cellers Unió promotes sustainable farming among its members and provides technical, logistical, legal and consultancy support. Across 4,400 hectares, that support connects vineyard work with a cooperative system large enough to serve many villages and production sites. The documented farming approach is shared assistance, not a claim that every bottle in the portfolio follows one identical method.

The cellar choices become more distinct at bottle level. Perlat Garnacha spends more than 10 months in oak, adding shape and length to rounded Garnacha fruit and delicate tannins. Llicorella Vitis 60 spends at least 15 months in oak and draws on old vines around Poboleda, giving the Priorat wine a darker, more mineral register with tannins that move from plush toward sturdy.

Wines

The portfolio spans six Catalan categories: Priorat, Montsant, Tarragona, Terra Alta, Catalunya and Cava. That list describes range architecture rather than one flavour profile. Montsant supplies the grape-led Perlat Garnacha, while Priorat supplies Llicorella Vitis 60, an old-vine red with darker flavour and firmer tannin. Tarragona, Terra Alta, Catalunya and Cava extend the group into other regional and sparkling styles.

Perlat Garnacha is a red wine built around one grape, Garnacha, and one appellation, DO Montsant. More than 10 months in oak sit behind its rounded fruit, spice and delicate tannins. Llicorella Vitis 60 is the older-vine Priorat counterpoint, with a darker mineral flavour, plush-to-sturdy tannins and at least 15 months in oak. Together, the bottles show how the cooperative's range shifts with appellation, vineyard age, grape and élevage.

In The Glass

Perlat Garnacha opens with rounded Garnacha fruit and spice. The oak ageing fills out the middle of the palate, while delicate tannins keep the wine supple instead of grippy. The finish carries the warmth of the fruit and the length supplied by more than 10 months in oak.

Llicorella Vitis 60 moves darker. Mineral flavours sit beside tannins that begin plush and gather firmness through the palate, while old vines around Poboleda and at least 15 months in oak give the wine a denser, longer feel. The range therefore travels from soft-edged Garnacha fruit to a Priorat red with more grip and darker flavour.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Perlat Garnacha. It is a DO Montsant red made from Garnacha and aged for more than 10 months in oak, so the label joins grape, appellation and cellar method in one bottle. Expect rounded fruit, spice, delicate tannins and a longer finish shaped by oak. It is the most direct way to taste the Montsant side of Cellers Unió before moving to the older-vine Priorat style of Llicorella Vitis 60.

Anecdote

On 26 October 1942, Unió was formally constituted at a grand event in Reus's Teatre Fortuny, the city's Art Nouveau theatre. The ceremony fixed the cooperative's beginning to a particular building and date. It was not a later anniversary attached to an uncertain origin, but the occasion on which the organisation was constituted. Reus supplied the setting, Teatre Fortuny supplied the stage, and the new cooperative carried its name forward into the vineyards of southern Catalonia. Twelve years later, Cellers Unió bottled its first Priorat wine with the official seal of the newly created appellation.

Final Word

Cellers Unió is a cooperative with a wide Catalan range and a few especially clear bottle markers. Perlat Garnacha brings together Garnacha, DO Montsant and oak ageing, while Llicorella Vitis 60 brings old vines around Poboleda, darker mineral flavour and firmer Priorat tannin. Reus gives the name its beginning; the bottles give it regional detail.

Sources

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