Terroir Al Limit - Priorat Les Tosses 2022

In 2000, Eben Sadie and Dominik Huber first met at Mas Martinet. Eben was a promising and highly-regarded young enologist from South Africa. Dominik, a native German, was a wine enthusiast with a business administration background but with interests in the culinary arts. In short order, they became fast friends.

With the help of the Pérez family of Mas Martinet, Eben and Dominik purchased some fruit and leased a little corner in the cellar of Cims de Porrera, where they vinified their first vintage of Dits del Terra in 2001. After two years at Cims de Porrera, they moved into a tiny cellar in Torroja del Priorat. The move coincided with the first vintage of Arbossar in 2003. In the following years, they released additional cuvées: Torroja in 2005, Manyes and Tosses in 2006, Pedra de Guix in 2008, and Terra de Cuques in 2011. Since its founding, Terroir al Limit has slowly evolved its understanding of the Priroat as a region as capable as Burgundy in its complexity and potential to make elegant and transparent wines. The Torroja and Terra de Cuques are the village wines, Dits del Terra and Arbossar the Premier Crus, and Manyes and Tosses are the Grand Crus.

Les Tosses is a steep, 90-year-old vineyard of head-pruned Carinyena on llicorella soil that Dominik Huber discovered while riding his motorbike on the twisting and mountainous dirt roads around Torroja. While many growers in the Priorat preferred Garnatxa or were planting Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, Dominik saw the potential for pure, old-vine, Carinyena. Inspired by the Burgundian concept of terroir, Les Tosses’ minuscule yields are not blended with any other variety or Carinyena from other sites. It is harvested by hand, with whole cluster native fermentations, infused rather than extracted, with only two weeks on the skins before pressing. It finishes fermentation and in a concrete tank.

Since 2021, Dominik Huber has worked exclusively with concrete and a little stainless steel, and he sold all the oak he had in the cellar.

"The top Cariñena 2022 Les Tosses followed a similar vinification and élevage as the rest of reds from 2022, with a light and short fermentation with indigenous yeasts and eight months in concrete. It also has similar parameters as its siblings, some 13.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.68 and 4.6 grams of acidity. It's a Cariñena of finesse and subtleness that's nuanced and complex. It has notes of wild berries, flowers, an earthy touch and hints of tree bark and pine needles. It's medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins and good grip. 3,106 bottles were filled in May 2023. 2024 - 2034" - 97 Points, Robert 

Producer: Terroir al Limit

Country: Spain

Region: Catalunya

Varietal: Carignan

Appellation: Priorat

Vintage: 2022

Size: 750ml