Costers de l’Ermita is an estate located just north from the town of Gratallops. The views are very promising to be speclacular, they are steep and terraced and the owners will happily show them to any visitors who are keen to explore organic viticulture in Priorat, where Spanish organic wine is at its best.
When you look at their winery, you will instantly agree that it is no wonder the locals call the ‘the bus station’. Yet this is not why I picked this particular one to be my next edition of ‘Discover Organic’ – even though the winery itself was founded in 2004, the history of this place is dated back to 1996, when Josep Maria Pujol-Busquets and Josep Maria Albet i Noya (who was featured in my previous edition) together with Poboleda Cooperative started this particular business. Yet in 2004 the two buddies and the cooperative decided not to pursue this venture together. Pujol-Busquets family already owned a vineyard just north to Barcelona, and they also enjoyed the partnership with Albet i Noya, who was, as you already know, one of the pioneers of organic movement in Spain, so they eventually appointed their daughter Mereia to be the manager of Mas Igneus winery.
She continues DOQ Priorat winemaking tradition and the wines are based on two varieties – Garnacha and Carignan; but of course using only organic grapes.
One of their wines was already reviewed, so you can check how it performed in our test here (and in the list of the top Organic wines).
For visiting purposes, please check their website, which is unfortunately not available in English, but you can get useful contact information and schedule a visit to sample Spanish organic wines and enjoy the views.