Why it matters
The producer
In 1999, Gerard Batllevell Simó turned a family history of growing grapes into estate winemaking. His family had farmed vines in Priorat for generations, but sold the harvest to the local cooperative. Gerard began making wine under the Celler Joan Simó name with support from his father, advice from his uncle Josep, winemaker Josep Àngel Mestre and friend Toni Pena.
The winery occupies the basement of Cal Ros, a historic house in Porrera converted into a modern cellar and ageing room that year. Gerard is responsible for the winery and Josep Àngel Mestre is its oenologist. Les Eres connects that cellar to its signature Porrera wine, a Carignan red whose label names both the village and the old vineyard behind it.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Priorat is the Catalan wine region and DOQ behind the bottles. Celler Joan Simó farms in two contrasting zones: cooler, higher vineyards around Porrera and La Garranxa, and warmer sites near Bellmunt del Priorat. Carignan can be harvested up to three weeks apart between Bellmunt and La Garranxa, so the place changes the calendar as well as the label.
La Garranxa sits above Porrera at 600 metres, on northeast-facing terraces. The estate planted 15,000 vines there between 1999 and 2001. Its altitude and exposure place La Garranxa in the cooler part of the estate, while Tros Nou's Bellmunt address brings the warmer low zone into the range.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Celler Joan Simó keeps vineyard and cellar work under one roof of responsibility. Cal Ros contains an ageing room with capacity for 25,000 bottles, while the estate manages the work from pruning to final sale. The cellar uses cold pre-fermentation maceration, controlled alcoholic fermentation and barrel malolactic fermentation in its named current reds.
Les Eres and Tros Nou each spend 18 months in new French oak, with the barrels giving the wines a clear ageing frame around ripe fruit, minerality and tannin. Viatge al Priorat spends 12 months in second and third-fill French oak, a shorter and softer oak imprint for the wider estate blend.
Wines to know
The range in view
Viatge al Priorat is the broad regional red. It blends 75% Grenache Noir with 5% Carignan, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot. The winery describes bright colour, fresh acidity, pronounced fruit and minerality, with 12 months in second and third-fill French oak. Its production is listed at 10,000 bottles and 300 magnums.
Les Eres Vi de Vila is the Porrera wine and the most direct Carignan statement in the current range. It is 100% Carignan from the Les Eres vineyard, with 18 months in new French oak. The estate describes ripe fruit, Priorat minerality, well-integrated oak and refined tannins. Production is listed at 2,100 bottles and 200 magnums.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Les Eres Vi de Vila. It is the current 100% Carignan from the 1920 Les Eres vineyard in Porrera, fermented with controlled temperature, aged for 18 months in new French oak and made in a listed production of 2,100 bottles and 200 magnums. Ripe fruit, Priorat minerality, integrated oak and refined tannins arrive in one bottle, with the grape, village, old slope and cellar method all named clearly on the way to the finish.