Spain · Priorat

Mas d'en Blei

A family-run Priorat estate in the Siurana river valley, with Grenache and Carignan at its red-wine core and a small White Grenache parcel behind Clos Martina.

The producer

Mas d'en Blei sits in La Morera del Montsant beside the Siurana river and bottles under the Priorat Qualified Designation of Origin. The Ferrús Guasch family bought the 17.5-hectare property in 2006, restoring its agricultural role and a farmhouse documented in 1756. Seven hectares are planted mainly with Grenache and Carignan under plantings directed by Jordi Torrella.

Clos Martina shows the estate at parcel scale: 0.47 hectares of White Grenache at 375 metres, with 1,350 vines. Six months on lees with daily bâtonnage, followed by at least a year resting at the winery, give the wine a dry, fuller-textured shape rather than a simple fruit-first white.

Known for

Priorat wines from estate-grown Grenache and Carignan, alongside Clos Martina, a small-parcel White Grenache shaped by extended lees ageing.

Notable facts

The story

A Farmstead Returned To Wine

In 2006, the Ferrús Guasch family bought Mas d'en Blei, a 17.5-hectare property in the Siurana river valley whose farmhouse had been documented in 1756. They set out to create a family artisan-wine business while restoring both the property’s agricultural role and the old farmhouse itself. The winery and farmhouse stand beside the river, and seven hectares were planted mainly with Grenache and Carignan under Jordi Torrella’s direction. From that planting came a Priorat estate range, including Clos Martina, a White Grenache wine from a separate 0.47-hectare parcel at 375 metres.

A Farmstead Returned To Wine

In 2006, the Ferrús Guasch family bought Mas d'en Blei, a 17.5-hectare property in the Siurana river valley whose farmhouse had been documented in 1756. They set out to create a family artisan-wine business while restoring both the property’s agricultural role and the old farmhouse itself. The winery and farmhouse stand beside the river, and seven hectares were planted mainly with Grenache and Carignan under Jordi Torrella’s direction. From that planting came a Priorat estate range, including Clos Martina, a White Grenache wine from a separate 0.47-hectare parcel at 375 metres.

From the atlas

Mas d'en Blei

At A Glance

Mas d'en Blei is a family estate in La Morera del Montsant, beside the Siurana river, making wine under the Priorat Qualified Designation of Origin. The Ferrús Guasch family bought the 17.5-hectare property in 2006; seven hectares are vineyards, planted mainly with Grenache and Carignan, so the estate’s red-wine base is rooted in those two grapes.

A second strand runs through the range in Clos Martina: a 0.47-hectare White Grenache parcel at 375 metres. Its small scale and long lees ageing lead to a white wine shaped as much by texture and time in cellar as by fruit.

The Producer

The Ferrús Guasch family acquired Mas d'en Blei to create an artisan-wine business, restoring the property’s agricultural role as well as its farmhouse, documented in 1756. The farmhouse and winery stand by the Siurana river; that physical setting joins an old working estate to bottles carrying the Priorat designation.

Jordi Torrella directed the vineyard planting. Across the seven planted hectares, Grenache and Carignan provide the main grape material, while the estate’s annual production averages about 15,000 litres. This is a compact property where parcel handling can matter to the shape of an individual wine.

Place

La Morera del Montsant sits in the Siurana river valley, and Mas d'en Blei bottles its wines as Priorat. The designation places the estate’s Grenache and Carignan within Priorat’s formal wine framework, while the river-side farmhouse locates the operation in a particular valley rather than an abstract regional name.

Clos Martina makes that relationship more immediate. It is a White Grenache parcel at 375 metres, so a bottle bearing its name points to a defined site within the estate rather than to the full seven hectares of vineyard.

Soil And Site

The documented site detail for Clos Martina is its 0.47-hectare size, 375-metre elevation and 1,350 White Grenache vines. No parcel-specific soil type is identified here, so the useful physical facts are scale and elevation: a very small planting can be handled separately, allowing its fruit to remain distinct through to the finished white wine.

The broader estate combines vineyard land with the Siurana river setting. That distinction matters in the glass because Mas d'en Blei’s 17.5 hectares describe the whole property, while the seven hectares of vines supply the Grenache, Carignan and White Grenache used for wine.

Story

In 2006, the Ferrús Guasch family took on a 17.5-hectare agricultural property and rebuilt it around wine. Restoring the farmhouse and returning the land to agricultural use gave the project a working base beside the Siurana river; the result is an estate range under Priorat’s designation rather than purchased fruit under a separate label.

The vineyards were planted under Jordi Torrella’s direction, chiefly with Grenache and Carignan. That choice establishes the estate’s red-wine material, while Clos Martina shows that the project also gives a named White Grenache parcel its own bottle and cellar programme.

Vineyards And Cellar

Mas d'en Blei works with tanks from 1 to 30 hectolitres and 300-litre barrels. Small tank capacity gives the cellar the practical option to keep lots apart, while barrels provide another vessel for white-wine work; the estate’s different wines receive different élevage regimes.

Clos Martina has the clearest documented programme. The White Grenache spends six months on its lees, with daily bâtonnage, then rests at the winery for at least another year before release. Stirring the lees keeps yeast sediment in contact with the wine, which can add body and a fuller texture instead of presenting the fruit as a simple, immediate white.

Wines

The range includes white and red wines, with varieties and maturation changing from cuvée to cuvée. Grenache and Carignan form the main vineyard base for the reds, where fruit, acidity, tannin and body can be read through those grapes rather than through a single estate-wide recipe.

Clos Martina occupies a different place in the range: it is a parcel wine from White Grenache, not a shorthand for every bottle Mas d'en Blei makes. Its six months on lees and daily bâtonnage point toward dry-white texture and weight, while the subsequent year of rest separates it from a freshly bottled, fruit-first style.

In The Glass

Clos Martina starts with White Grenache fruit but is shaped by its lees work. The likely impression is a dry white with fruit at the front, then a broader mid-palate from six months on lees and daily bâtonnage; the extra time at the winery should bring the components together before release.

That cellar sequence is the useful tasting clue: look for body and texture as well as acidity, rather than treating the wine as a light aromatic white. The finish is where the parcel’s fruit and the lees-derived weight should meet, making it a wine to pour with food rather than only as an aperitif.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Clos Martina. It comes from a 0.47-hectare White Grenache parcel at 375 metres, planted with 1,350 vines, and its six months on lees with daily bâtonnage give it a tangible cellar signature. Expect a dry white with fruit, acidity, a broader texture and more weight through the palate than a direct, early-drinking white.

It is the first bottle because it makes the estate’s scale visible: one named parcel, one grape, a defined élevage and at least a year of further rest before release. The wine connects a small planting in the Siurana valley to a specific style in the glass.

Anecdote

When the Ferrús Guasch family bought Mas d'en Blei in 2006, they acquired a 17.5-hectare property whose farmhouse had been documented in 1756. Rather than treating the old building as scenery for a new label, they restored the estate’s agricultural role and restored the farmhouse itself. The winery and farmhouse stand beside the Siurana river, while seven hectares of the property were planted mainly with Grenache and Carignan under Jordi Torrella’s direction. The family’s artisan-wine project therefore began with an existing farmstead, a river-side setting and new vines intended to produce Priorat wine.

Final Word

Mas d'en Blei is easiest to grasp through its proportions: a 17.5-hectare property, seven hectares of vineyard and one 0.47-hectare White Grenache parcel. Clos Martina turns those numbers into a dry, textured white, while Grenache and Carignan remain the main material for the estate’s red wines.

Sources

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