2015 Dits del Terra

The 2015 Dits del Terra has a beautiful nose that is very elegant and perfumed, with floral aromas and a clear mineral note from early on. This is a slightly warmer vineyard (the one originally worked by Eben Sadie); but the balance is amazing here, and there is no heat. The foudres are also a little older—six years old—and therefore are quite neutral, and the wines age nicely in them. The quality and refinement of the tannins is surprising—they provide for a velvety texture, and there is a liveliness on the palate that only the best wines can achieve, especially with a rustic grape grown in a rustic place and in a warm vineyard. In this 2015, the Cariñena is just as fresh (maybe even fresher!) as it is in the Arbossar. Bravo! At the end of the day, both showed a similar quality level. For proprietor Dominik Huber, it's clear that Cariñena is the grape for the warmer places on slate soils. 4,600 bottles were filled in May 2017.

Also 100% Carinyena fermented with 100% stems, yet from a slightly warmer terroir, the 2015 Dits del Terra is more rounded, supple and sexy, with tons of kirsch, black raspberries, pepper, incense and iris aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied, gorgeously layered and undeniably beautiful on the palate, it has ripe, rounded tannins and a great finish that keeps you coming back to the glass. This cuvée gets its name from the nearly 90-year-old vines of Carinyena that give the impression fingers clawing into the schist soils of this site near the village of Torroja. It’s one of the first vineyards that Dominik and his then partner, Eben Sadie, acquired when they started making wine together in the Priorat. Where the l’Arbossar come from a cooler, north facing parcel, this comes from a warmer, southerly hillside.