Terroir Al Limit Les Manyes 2023 750ml Case of 6

The vines of the 2023 Les Manyes are Garnacha Peluda planted in a place that has more in common with zones from Montsant than the majority of Priorat, on red clay soils at a high altitude, 800 meters, over the monastery and village of Scaladei. It's a biotype of Garnacha that is more resistant to drought, more rustic, and it achieved less sugar/alcohol and kept a special brightness and elegance. The full clusters had a short native fermentation of around eight days in concrete, and the wine matured in concrete for eight months. It's the palest and most delicate of the 2023 reds, really fine-boned and with that ethereal quality of lightness, strength and energy. This is the shining star of the portfolio, superb in 2023. It's shy in the beginning but opens up to a very pretty wine in the glass, reminiscent of the 2021 vintage. 3,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2024.

The 2023 Les Manyes from Priorat is 100% Garnatxa Peluda. Expressive, it displays red fruits ranging from morello to cherry, followed by herbs, mint, rosemary and delicate garrigue with a touch of fresh pomegranate. Reminiscent of summer fruit, it is dry, broad and lightly grippy. The house style shows through in its infusion-like texture with a delicate but compact finish. A novel expression for Priorat, it pushes the region’s limits while remaining true to its dry, sunny and aromatic character.

Tasting Les Manyes blind is a thrilling exercise. Without a reference point to guide you, you find yourself wandering around the Mediterranean confused if you’re in Spain, the Rhône, or Piedmont. There are a couple of reasons why Les Manyes is so unique in the Priorat. Firstly, this is not Garnatxa on llicorella; instead, it is Garnatxa Peluda grown on clay soils rich in chalk and gypsum located in the mountains above the village of Scala Dei – making for a wine with a distinctly different mineral profile that one normally expects from the Priorat. Secondly, it is made by Dominik Huber, who farms these grapes biodynamically, harvests them a few weeks before his neighbors, ferments them whole-cluster with indigenous yeasts, favors infusion over extraction, and presses half-way through the fermentation before finishing the wine and aging it in concrete tanks to preserve its soulful, red-fruit driven character.