Terroir Sense Fronteres Negre de Montsant 2019

“In the Montsant you can shock.” Coming from Dominik Huber, founder of trailblazing Priorat winery Terroir Al Límit, this means a lot. For nearly two decades, Huber has been exploring the edge of what is possible in the Priorat, making energetic, lower alcohol wines from the hot, twisted slopes of llicorella slate in a DOQ famous for power. He has eschewed the preferred modern formula that adds alcohol, extraction, and oak to naturally concentrated, old-vine Carignan and Grenache, without losing the ability to express Priorat’s profound minerality and soul. This grand vision for restrained wines has always captured the attention of wine lovers and professionals eager to drink fresher, more gastronomic Priorat wines. Nevertheless, Huber still stands virtually alone at the limit that he pioneered. With the launch of Terroir Sense Fronteres, his new project next door in the Montsant, he is poised to break boundaries all over again.

The quest is not for shock value. Rather, it is quite the opposite: a return to wines that express a natural, direct connection to the earth. Huber is an admirer of traditional Mediterranean cuisine and its ability to effortlessly transmit this connection through fresh local ingredients, prepared simply. In Catalunya, Huber’s adopted home, the local style of cooking combines flavors and textures from the mountains and coasts, providing immense satisfaction and pleasure without interference of excessive technique. Why can’t the same be true of Priorat and Montsant wines?

Huber’s winemaking philosophy seeks to restore this natural connection to the earth and the vine: vineyards are farmed organically or biodynamically, grapes are harvested and placed into tanks, vats, or amphora (whole bunch) by hand, trodden gently by foot, and fermented with native yeasts. There are no destemmers or oak barrels in the Terroir Sense Fronteres winery and sulfur additions are low.