Cult-status Priorat with Terroir al Límit – Thursday 29th October

In 2000, German-born Dominik Huber, then a recent business-and-economics graduate, did what any such wine-lover would. He got himself a year’s internship at top-end Priorat estate Mas Martinet. Initially working as a vineyard labourer, Huber decided to learn viticulture and winemaking from the ground up. There he met the trailblazing South African winemaker Eben Sadie – already on his way to superstar status in the Cape but restless to make other discoveries. Together, the pair resolved to make wine together, initially with fruit purchased through the Pérez family of Mas Martinet, who gave over some space in their cellar for the first vintage of Dits del Terra. The project quickly evolved towards the all-embracing Terroir at Límit via an increasingly detailed understanding of Priorat’s old vineyards that would challenge the region’s prevailing model of concentration, extraction and new oak. Through whole-bunch fermentation, infusion rather than extraction, and ageing in concrete or amphora rather than new oak, the pair coaxed old-vine Grenache and Carignan to wines of freshness, perfume and site. Sadie returned to South Africa in 2012, leaving Huber to develop the estate, increasingly embracing organic and biodynamic viticulture and a more Burgundian conception of vineyard hierarchy. That progression is particularly vivid in wines such as Les Manyes, a Grenache grown at 800m on west-facing clay; and Arbossar, from 90-year-old Carignan on steep, north-facing llicorella slate. Lithe and delicate, pure and expressive, the wines have since acquired something of a cult status, heralded not simply as a lighter style of Priorat, but evidence that the region’s formidable concentration can co-exist with transparency and elegance. We’re thrilled to welcome Dominik to the Club to present a selection of these astonishing wines in person. Do join him for should be a fascinating night. The wines we’ll be tasting: 2023 Pedra de Guix, Terroir al Límit, Priorat 2014 Pedra de Guix, Terroir al Límit, Priorat 2023 Arbossar, Terroir al Límit, Priorat 2018 Arbossar, Terroir al Límit, Priorat 2023 Las Manyes, Terroir al Límit, Priorat 2022 Dits del Terra, Terroir al Límit, Priorat 2021 Les Tosses, Terroir al Límit, Priorat 2015 Les Tosses, Terroir al Límit, Priorat