Village
Falset is the capital of the comarca of the Priorat, in the province of Tarragona, situated in the centre of the basin of the Siurana river, in the depression that separates the historic Priorat from the Baix Priorat. It has around 2,890 inhabitants. It was resettled after the Reconquest and in 1168 its castle was handed to Pere de Déu, charged with fortifying it; it received a charter of settlement in 1191. From 1324 it was part of the county of Prades, whose counts resided in the castle, and in the 15th century it had a significant Jewish community, which disappeared with the inquisitorial trials of the end of the century. In 1810 Napoleonic troops devastated the town. It lives off the cultivation of hazelnuts and vines, and preserves its castle, its wall and the modernist cooperative winery, home to the Fira del Vi.
Monument
The castle of Falset, which overlooks the town of Falset (Priorat), is a boundary castle declared an asset of national cultural interest. The earliest references to it date from 1168, when it was granted to Pere de Déu with the task of repopulating the place and building a defensive fortification; it received its charter of settlement in 1191. It experienced its period of greatest splendour in the 14th century, when the counts of Prades extended the building. According to tradition, two of the most important women of medieval Catalonia were born in this castle: Elionor d'Aragó, queen of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and Margarida de Prades, queen of Aragon and the last Catalan queen. After years of neglect, the property passed from the town council to the Diputació, and today it houses the Priorat Regional Archive and the Castell del Vi.
Monument
The wall of Falset is the medieval walled enclosure of the municipality, capital of the comarca of Priorat (Tarragona), built between the 15th and 16th centuries. A stretch of about 200 metres connected to the castle survives, running along the streets of Portal del Bou, l'Hospital Vell and Santa Joaquima Vedruna until it disappears behind the church. It includes the well-preserved Portal del Bou, remains of another gate called dels Ferrers, and a tower at the start of carrer de Dalt. It has been declared an Asset of National Cultural Interest since 8 November 1988.
Monument
The Celler Cooperatiu de Falset, capital of Priorat (Tarragona), is a modernist building by Cèsar Martinell declared an asset of national cultural interest, today part of the Falset-Marçà Cooperative, among the wineries of the Montsant Designation of Origin. It was built in 1919 by Martinell, commissioned by the Falset Agricultural Union. It consists of a basilica-type main nave, with three naves separated by parabolic brick arches, and a transverse section for winemaking. The façade, of medievalist composition, is flanked by two towers with a crenellated top and a doorway of granite voussoirs; also notable is the water tank tower, with crossed parabolic arches, a solution that Martinell repeated in almost all of his wineries.
Activity
The Fira del Vi de Falset is the leading showcase for the wines of the DOQ Priorat and the DO Montsant, held in Falset (Tarragona), capital of the Priorat comarca. It takes place on the first weekend of May, and it displays the wines proper to both comarcal designations of origin.
Activity
The Festa Major de Falset is held in the capital of the Priorat, head since the 13th century of the barony of the Entença family and later of the county of Prades; its region also gives its name to the Montsant Designation of Origin, created in 2001.
Curiosity
A Denominación de Origen Calificada, the first and only one in Catalonia with this top category, whose production area coincides with the historic Priorat, with Falset as its capital. It covers a small territory of less than 20,000 hectares, of which only 1,600 are planted with vines, over a very rugged terrain that requires cultivation on terraces. Its distinctive feature is the llicorella soil, a grey, rough slate which, together with strong sunlight and scarce rainfall, gives very low yields and wines of singular character. The climate is Mediterranean, with an average annual temperature of 15 degrees, and the grape harvest runs from mid-September to late October. Vine growing was introduced in the 12th century by the Carthusian monks of Escaladei, who came from Provence.
Activity
Falset's Festa Major d'Hivern is held in the capital of the Priorat, seat of Catalonia's first Denominación de Origen Calificada for wines, with its characteristic llicorella soils.
Historical milestone
The barony of Entença, lords of the Priorat since the 13th century, was a seigneurial jurisdiction centred on the castle of Entença, in the Baixa Ribagorça, whose possessions in Tarragona —among them Falset, Móra, Tivissa, Siurana, Cabassers or Marçà— had their capital in Falset. After the death in 1321 of Guillem d'Entença i de Montcada, sixth baron of Entença, the barony passed to the royal lordship and its possessions were annexed to the county of Prades, granted to the infante Ramon Berenguer, son of Jaume the Just, who exchanged it in 1342 with his brother the infante Pere; from then on the barony followed the vicissitudes of that county. This role as administrative capital explains the castle, the market and Falset's status as head of the comarca.
Food and drink
A wine designation of origin created in 2001 from the Falset subzone, which until then had formed part of the Tarragona designation, and which protects the wines of the villages surrounding the Sierra de Montsant on soils of clay, sand and some slate, with grenache and carignan as the main varieties. Since its creation it has grown notably: while it started with 28 wineries, today it has more than 50, with around 2,000 hectares of vineyard planted and a production of around 10 million kilos of grapes a year. Almost 70% of bottled production is exported, mainly to Germany and the United States.