Terroir Al Limit Les Tosses 2014

Carignan from Priorat, Spain

98 Robert
Parker
97 James
Suckling
96 Wine
Enthusiast
95 Wine &
Spirits

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Terroir Al Limit Les Tosses 2014 Front Bottle Shot

Terroir Al Limit Les Tosses 2014 Front Label

Product Details

Varietal

Carignan

Region

Priorat, Spain

Producer

Terroir Al Limit

Vintage

2014

Size

750ML

ABV

13.5%

Features

Collectible

Boutique

Your Rating

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Somm Note

Winemaker Notes

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, the minuscule yields from Les Tosses are not blended with any other variety, or Carinyenafrom other sites. It is harvested by hand, with whole cluster nativefermentations, infused rather than extracted, with only two weeks on the skins before pressing. It finishes fermentation and malo in a single 1200L Stockinger fuder where it rests undisturbed for 18–24 months.

Professional Ratings

98 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Already bottled in June 2016, slightly earlier as it usually spends two years in foudre to avoid excessive fatigue because of too much oxygen in the wine, the 2014 Les Tosses is pure Cariñena from an old vineyard on slate soils at some 650 meters altitude. There is none of the rusticity I often link to the grape, this is extremely floral and perfumed, with plenty of violets, a little earthy too. The palate is extremely balanced, and I don't remember tannins as elegant as these in a Cariñena before. There is length, freshness and a very, very long finish. This might very well be the best vintage of Les Tosses so far. This wine feels very young and it's a bit shy, but giving it time it is just amazing. It should be much better with a little more time in bottle. If you decide to pull the cork soon, make sure you give it some time to breathe. There are 1,946 bottles produced. The vineyard is almost two hectares, and Dominik Huber only used part of it for this bottling, and the rest goes to Torroja. But, his idea is to increase the volume so he'll take longer to sell this vintage so he can keep the wine for one year longer in bottle before selling it. Smart thinking...
97 James Suckling
lightly reductive yet powerful nose showing qualitative fruit and depth. Flowers and spice. Full body with a ultra-velvety texture and high level of soft tannins. Harmonious. The finish is long and smooth. One of the two top cuvée of the winery. Made from old vine cariñena.
96 Wine Enthusiast
Ethereal aromas of baking spices, cinnamon and berry fruits convey exoticism. This Carignan from 90-year-old vines is saturated and a bit rubbery on the palate. Infinite flavors of nutmeg, spiced plum and berry fruits exude Priorat schist, while everything comes back on a strong finish with measurable tannins. Drink from 2019–2030.
95 Wine & Spirits
Melding floral notes, brilliant red fruits and hints of stones, this is a complex and multilayered expression of cariñena. It comes from a steep vineyard planted 90 years ago around the town of Torroja, in the center of Priorat. Firm and expansive, it has the energy of a young red, but without the harsh tannins normally associated with cariñena. Dominik Huber aged the wine for around two years, undisturbed, in a single 1,200-liter foudre. It will age with grace for the next decade.

Other Vintages

2019

97 James
Suckling
96 Robert
Parker

2018

98 Robert
Parker
97 Decanter
96 James
Suckling

2017

97 Robert
Parker
96 James
Suckling

2012

98 Robert
Parker
90 James
Suckling

Terroir Al Limit

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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. With the demands arising from increased production and additional farming responsibilities and Eben Sadie spending more time in South Africa with his various projects, Dominik began working full time at Terroir al Limit in 2007. Devoting himself primarily to the cultivation of the growing number of vineyard sites, Dominik could see his vineyard efforts were resulting in healthier fruit. With better fruit coming into the cellar, Eben and Dominik had a profound realization that ripe, concentrated grapes combined with extractive winemaking and aging in barriques didn’t show their vineyards’ authenticity. Consequently, they reevaluated their work in the cellar by phasing out all their 225-liter barrels, then utilizing a more gentle Burgundian approach to vinification, preferring whole clusters and avoiding either pigeage or remontage. The goal at Terroir al Limit is to foster wines of infusion rather than extraction, thereby emphasizing elegance rather than the typical heaviness of the Priorat. Currently, the wines are aged mainly in concrete tanks, with a few upright Stockinger foudres, and 500L neutral French oak demi-muids. Realizing that organic or biodynamic farming during an era of global warming is insufficient for a region as hot and dry as the Priorat, Dominik farms rigorously to guarantee the health and vitality of his soils so they can retain as much moisture as possible, reducing the hydric stress on the vines in summer and allowing for an earlier harvest of physiologically ripe fruit. Eben Sadie left Terroir al Limit in 2011 to devout his energies to his extraordinary work in South Africa, but he left it in the capable hands of Dominik Huber. Each successive vintage is a testament to their original vision for Terroir al Limit, as well as Dominik’s continued quest to make the most elegant and expressive wines in the Priorat.

Carignan Wine

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Responsible for some of the most stunning old vine red wine on the planet, Carignan has an amazing capacity to survive dry, arid climates and still produce lovely, mouthwatering wine. In Spain it goes by the name of Mazuelo or Cariñena and while it may have originated there in the province of Aragón, its popularity lies elsewhere, particularly in Languedoc-Roussillon. Somm Secret—Historically Carignan did not enjoy the respect that it does today. In the mid 20th century, Carignan covered nearly 140,000 ha in Algeria, where it was made into low quality bulk and blending wine to supply mass-market demand.

Priorat Wine

Spain

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Tiny and entirely composed of craggy, jagged and deeply terraced vineyards, Priorat is a Catalan wine-producing region that was virtually abandoned until the early 1990s. This Spanish wine's renaissance came with the arrival of one man, René Barbier, who recognized the region’s forgotten potential. He banded with five friends to create five “Clos” in the village of Gratallops. Their aim was to revive some of Priorat’s ancient Carignan vines, as well as plant new—mainly French—varieties. These winemakers were technically skilled, well-trained and locally inspired; not surprisingly their results were a far cry from the few rustic and overly fermented wines already produced.

This movement escalated Priorat’s popularity for a few reasons. Its new wines were modern and made with well-recognized varieties, namely old Carignan and Grenache blended with Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. When the demand arrived, scarcity commanded higher prices and as the region discovered its new acclaim, investors came running from near and far. Within ten years, the area under vine practically doubled.

Priorat’s steep slopes of licorella (brown and black slate) and quartzite soils, protection from the cold winds of the Siera de Monstant and a lack of water, leading to incredibly low vine yields, all work together to make the region’s wines unique. While similar blends could and are produced elsewhere, the mineral essence and unprecedented concentration of a Priorat wine is unmistakable.

BTO533479_2014 Item# 533479