At A Glance
- Field
- Detail
- Place
- Gratallops, Catalonia
- Appellation
- DOQ Priorat
- Signature wine
- Clos Mogador
- Wine style
- Red wine
- Defining practice
- Biodynamic viticulture, permanent cover crops, cow compost and biochar
The Producer
René Barbier Ferrer was pursuing Grenaches when he bought a polyculture estate planted with vines, olive trees and almond trees. The estate now divides responsibilities between René Barbier Meyer, who guides fermentations, and Christian Barbier Meyer, who tends the vineyards.
From 2012 onward, Clos Mogador changed its viticulture toward biodynamic agriculture. Soil work remains minimally interventionist, with permanent cover crops, annual cow compost and biochar. Horses, sheep and chickens graze those crops. New plantings use rootstocks adapted to the estate soils, grafted with buds from indigenous varieties.
Place
Gratallops is where Clos Mogador makes estate bottled wine within DOQ Priorat. Estate bottling means the wine is produced by the property itself. Clos Mogador was among the first Catalan wines to receive Vi de Finca certification, which denotes more than a decade of production from the same single vineyard.
Wines
Clos Mogador is the eponymous red Priorat wine, with 2022 as the listed vintage. Some lots use 40% added stems, while others incorporate whole bunches. Whole bunch fermentation keeps stems with the grapes and can contribute perfume, spice and grip to the wine.
In The Glass
Clos Mogador brings Mediterranean undergrowth aromas around softened fruit, with characteristic minerality remaining alongside the fruit on the palate. Added stems and whole bunches can contribute perfume, spice and tannin during fermentation.
A Bottle To Understand It
Choose Clos Mogador. Fermentation and maceration last between 35 and 55 days in foudre, followed by twenty months in oak foudres and concrete tanks. Foudre is a large oak vessel that allows gradual oxygen contact, while concrete provides a neutral ageing vessel. The bottle brings together extended maceration, variable stem use and two different ageing materials under the Clos Mogador name.
Final Word
Clos Mogador joins family vineyard and fermentation work with estate bottling in Gratallops, biodynamic soil management and long élevage in oak foudres and concrete tanks.