My neighbor across the street, Philip "El Baron" Lay, has a small farm (finca) just beyond l'Ermita. It's about a hectare (2.47 acres) and he farms it intensively. About half of it is planted to old vine carinyena. The upper vineyard is planted on slate and should probably be classified as Priorat even though he's in DO Montsant. He makes about 100 cases a year of wine sells almost all of it in the UK. It's very good!
Philip has an impressive orchard of olives, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, several different kinds of apples and several different kinds of figs. I forgot to mention pomegranates. There is also a garden with tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, melons, onions and a few other vegetables I can't remember. He's basically self-sufficient for a big part of the year.
There is an old casita on the property which he may someday get around to repairing. There is an electrical line that runs through the property and that's very convenient since rural electricity can be expensive in Spain. Philip spends a lot of time working his land and is very generous with sharing the fruits of his land.
Philip enjoys cooking and entertaining. He's an excellent chef and meals at Castillo El Baron are always a treat. I've met a number of local people at his house and it's always good to make new friends. ¡Gracias, El Baron!
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