Terroir al Límit Priorat Les Tosses 2017

Vi d’altura, the equivalent of Grand Cru wine. There are two Vi d’altura, or pinnacle wines, produced here: Les Tosses and Les Manyes. These are Terroir al Límit’s finest Priorats, as tasted through the prism of Cariñena (for Les Tosses) and Garnatxa (for Les Manyes). They are simply two of the greatest red wines emanating from Spain today.

The 2-hectare Les Tosses vineyard sits on a stony ridge of deep, black slate soils to the northeast of the village of Torroja, at an incredible altitude of 650 metres. It is one of the very few ancient vineyards (the vines are more than 90 years old) at this height. The bush vines here are mainly Cariñena with a tiny percentage of Garnatxa. They face east, like watchmen guarding the valley, and are planted at a density of 6,605 plants per hectare. These vines, along with those of Les Manyes, receive the most intricate attention from the TaL team, with each vine attended to as a most prized possession.

Dominik Huber only uses the best portion of this ‘Grand Cru’ site for this bottling (the rest goes into the village wine). The fermentation was 100% whole bunches with indigenous yeasts. Pressing occurred halfway through the fermentation and then three-quarters of the wine went into a 1200-litre Stockinger cask for 20 months, the remainder to concrete. Such stunning complexity and finesse! Yes, it is not cheap, but it is one of Spain’s finest reds, and made in tiny quantities.

Tasting Profile