2020 Terroir al Límit Priorat Arbossar

Vi de Coster, the equivalent of 1er Cru wine. Arbossar is a steep, 1.6-hectare vineyard of 100-plus-year-old Cariñena (Carignan) planted on schist and granite soils. It’s close to the village of Torroja where the Terroir al Límit cellars are based. Against conventional wisdom, Arbossar was planted on the cooler, north-facing slopes of Torroja. It was this unusual site, purchased in 2005, that informed much of Huber’s early experience with the terroir of Priorat. As Luis Gutiérrez explains, it’s always a “fresher and more floral style” than the corresponding Dits del Terra (from the south-facing slopes) and picked earlier. Both wines are made in a similar fashion: 100% whole-bunch vinification with wild yeasts and 16 months élevage, exclusively in concrete. Huber describes Arbossar as wine with a French soul, a German head and a Spanish heart—we describe it as deeply impressive. At its core, it’s a wine of deep complexity and nuance. The 2020 seeps out the glass with alluring, complex scents of blue fruits, woodsmoke and slate before a palate-sweeping body moulded by soft tannin, lingering freshness and mineral force. It finishes with outstanding definition and length.