Mas Doix

At A Glance

Mas Doix is a Poboleda producer in Priorat, founded in 1998 by brothers Valentí and Ramon Llagostera. Its reds bring Grenache and Carignan from old vines on llicorella slate into three distinct bottles: lively Les Crestes, longer Salanques and old-vine Doix Costers De Vinyes Velles. The link between the wines is physical: slate-grown fruit, hand-worked vineyards and a village whose local vines became the basis of the estate.

The Producer

Mas Doix began with Valentí and Ramon Llagostera in Poboleda, Catalonia. Grenache and Carignan are the estate’s central grapes, planted on Priorat’s llicorella slate, including vines dating from 1902. That material appears at different weights across Les Crestes, Salanques and Doix: the same regional grapes take on a different role as the bottle moves from fresh fruit toward old-vine tannin and longer ageing.

Place

Poboleda sits within Priorat, where Mas Doix works red varieties rooted in llicorella slate. The village is not merely an address on the label: it is where the brothers founded the winery and where they recovered vineyards that had supplied the local cooperative. In the glass, that ties the wines to Grenache and Carignan fruit shaped by the same slate ground rather than to an invented single-vineyard story.

Soil And Site

Llicorella is the estate’s stated vineyard ground, and Mas Doix works Grenache and Carignan vines planted there from 1902 onward. The Priorat regulatory council also refers to vineyards that are 100 years old. Old plantings and slate are not a flavour guarantee on their own, but they establish the vine material behind Doix’s old-vine frame and the darker, more mineral direction described for Salanques.

Story

The Llagostera brothers created Mas Doix in 1998 after recovering family and local vineyards whose grapes had previously gone to the Poboleda Cooperative. Instead of ending their journey at the cooperative, that fruit became the raw material for estate wines under the Mas Doix name. The decision gives the range a clear origin: Les Crestes, Salanques and Doix are not abstract labels but wines made from vineyards gathered into a new Poboleda cellar project.

Vineyards And Cellar

Mas Doix describes its work as organic viticulture incorporating biodynamic practices. Vineyard cultivation is carried out by hand, organised vineyard by vineyard and variety by variety. That approach matters because Grenache and Carignan do not need to be treated as one undifferentiated harvest: the estate can work through parcels and varieties separately before the fruit becomes the brighter Les Crestes, the more mineral Salanques or the more tannic Doix.

The documented wines show different cellar roles without requiring a universal recipe. Les Crestes is presented as the more immediate red in the range; Salanques carries a longer, mineral profile; Doix 2022 is described with abundant fine tannins and capacity for bottle ageing. The practical result is a range in which fruit, oak, texture and tannin are arranged for different drinking moments rather than repeated at one volume.

Wines

Les Crestes 2023 is the livelier side of Mas Doix. Its supplied tasting material points to immediate aromatic and structural energy, so this is the bottle for red fruit, freshness and a lighter-bodied feel relative to the estate’s deeper wines. Grenache and Carignan remain the regional foundation, but here they are presented for early perfume, acidity and drinkability rather than prolonged tannin development.

Salanques 2019 takes a longer line. Its supporting material describes a more mineral profile, so the wine moves beyond fruit alone toward slate-linked savoury detail, firmer structure and a longer finish. It is the middle ground in the documented sequence: more layered than Les Crestes, without relying on Doix’s old-vine ageing promise.

It is described as having abundant fine tannins and potential to age in bottle, which places grip and structure at the centre of its role. The effect is not simply greater weight: fine tannin gives the palate shape, carrying fruit and savoury notes into a finish built for time rather than immediate softness.

In The Glass

Across the three wines, start with fruit and move toward structure. Les Crestes leads with fresher aroma and a more immediate palate; its acidity keeps the fruit moving rather than heavy. Salanques adds mineral and savoury detail, with more length and grip around the fruit. Doix brings the most evident tannin frame of the three, its fine but abundant tannins giving the wine body, dry texture and a finish that can settle and broaden with bottle age.

The common thread is not a single tasting note. Grenache can bring warm red-fruit breadth, while Carignan contributes darker fruit, acidity and firmer tannin; llicorella slate supplies the shared vineyard setting. Mas Doix’s range lets those elements appear at three speeds, from lively fruit to mineral length to ageworthy grip.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Salanques 2019. It sits between Les Crestes’ immediate energy and Doix’s old-vine tannin, making its mineral, savoury direction especially useful for understanding the estate’s slate-grown Grenache and Carignan. Expect fruit held inside a firmer structure, with acidity and grip extending the palate into a longer finish. It shows how Mas Doix turns Poboleda vineyard material into a red that has both body and lift, without asking for the patience demanded by the more tannic Doix.

Anecdote

In 1998, brothers Ramon and Valentí Llagostera founded Mas Doix in Poboleda. They recovered old family and local vineyards whose grapes had previously been delivered to the Poboleda Cooperative, then used that vineyard material as the base for the new winery. The project brought Grenache and Carignan vines on llicorella slate into the Mas Doix cellar, including plantings dating from 1902. The wines now documented as Les Crestes, Salanques and Doix Costers De Vinyes Velles all begin with that change: fruit once sent away from the village became wine bottled by the brothers’ own estate.

Final Word

Mas Doix is worth seeking out for a concrete Priorat sequence: slate-grown Grenache and Carignan, hand cultivation and three reds with different textures. Les Crestes brings the fresher fruit; Salanques adds mineral length; Doix brings old-vine tannin and bottle-ageing potential.

At A Glance

The Producer

Place

Soil And Site

Story

Vineyards And Cellar

Wines

In The Glass

A Bottle To Understand It

Anecdote

Final Word

Sources

Where to go next