Long before the Priorat experienced its great upswing and the wines of this small region experienced a brilliant renaissance, it was precisely one winery that held up the flag of this region that is so renowned and sought-after today - Scala Dei. The name of this winery, Scala Dei, which means "ladder to heaven", goes back to the Carthusian monks who lived in a monastery here in this remote corner of Catalonia and cultivated wine as early as the 12th century. Although the monastery was dissolved in the course of secularisation in the 19th century, many of the monks' records have been preserved and prove that they had an excellent knowledge of viticulture, climate and soil. When a small group of winegrowers and oenologists took up these writings at the beginning of the 1970s and started growing wine again, the hour of the rebirth of the Priorat struck under the name "Cellers de Scala Dei". And Scala Dei was the first winery to bottle and sell wines under the Priorat appellation and also develop the Priorat DOQ appellation. Today, the winery has grown to 60 hectares, and many parcels are located in the very vineyards where monks expertly cultivated and pressed wine 800 years ago. Since 2007, the winery has belonged to the Codorniù Raventos group, which carried out extensive renovations in the vineyard and cellar. The Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha Tinta and Syrah varieties are cultivated, as well as Carignano, with one plot dating back to 1904 (!). During vinification, they follow in the footsteps of the monks, fermenting with the stems and storing and maturing the wine in large barrels so that the fruit and terroir are not pushed out of their main roles by new wood, for example. Wines such as the "Prior de Scala Dei", a blend of Garnacha, Carignano, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, bear witness to the great history of "Scala Dei". El Tribut de Scala Dei" also pays homage to the Priorat landscape and the winemaking skills of the monks.
