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Terroir Sense Fronteres: Earth to Glass Montsant

Terroir Sense Fronteres: Earth to Glass Montsant

Montsant does not share the kudos of its famous neighbour—yet. Dominik Huber and Tatjana Peceric have long been vocal that Montsant’s finest terroirs could produce wines every bit as exciting as those of Priorat. Five vintages in, and now it’s the wines that are doing the talking. If you crave European reds of great energy and perfume, this is an address to be acquainted with.

Prizing finesse over concentration, Serbian-born vigneron Tatjana Peceric has a beautiful touch with Montsant’s high-grown Garnacha and Cariñena. Except for the skin-contact white Brisat, the wines are fermented as whole bunches in concrete, amphorae and stainless steel (no oak is used) and extraction is as gentle as possible. In the cellar, Peceric works with the infusion model—a buzzy term for sure, yet we should not forget that this kind of no-bells-and-whistles winemaking is scarce in this corner of Europe. In short, the grapes are gently crushed by foot and taken off their skins at between eight and 12 days to continue fermentation. “We don’t need to extract tannin,” says Peceric.

Another key to the style and quality here is that regulations allow for harvesting early for lower alcohol; minimum levels here are 12.5% for reds and 11.5% for whites (compared to 13.5% for reds and 13% for whites in the DOQ Priorat). Huber has always said he would pick his Priorat wines at lower alcohol if it did not mean losing his DOQ status, so the Montsant project has brought the element of freedom he has been craving.


2021 is the coolest vintage Peceric has worked in Catalonia, and followers of this grower’s wines can expect intense perfumes backed up by lip-smacking fleshy fruit and vibrant freshness. These are wines of pleasure and purity that only a special place, meticulously farmed, can gift. We also offer the 2019 vintage of Guix Vermell from Terroir Sense Fronteres’ most profound terroir—Els Montalts—which neighbours Terroir al Límit’s own Grand Cru, Les Manyes. The price is breathtaking, but so is the wine—the reviews for this ‘Montsant-Chambertin’ tell you everything you need to know.

Finally, we have also shipped the new vintage of Coreografia Pas de Deux. Peceric’s own label sees her explore the cooler, higher vineyards of Cornudella de Montsant (the DO’s northernmost village). Here she works with a close friend who farms biodynamically at a nose-bleed altitude of 700 meters above sea level. The site’s mature, 50-plus-year-old vines are rooted in light red clay with gypsum veins which, alongside Peceric’s retro/modern winemaking, draw out a higher-toned, more floral and edgy expression of Montsant’s two principal red varieties.

In sum, Peceric’s wines carry the unique mineral signature of their slate- and limestone-rich soils. They have the kind of freshness, lightness of being, crunchy/juiciness and textural sensuality that one is usually more likely to encounter further north in the top cellars of Burgundy and the Rhône Valley.

More information about Terroir Sense Fronteres and the full list of available wines can be found here.

The Wines

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