Marcenca 2022

The Marcenca 2022 opens quietly. At 12.5% vol. it stays slender, and only after some time in contact with air does it reveal how much depth and personality lie within this simplicity. A wine that rests within itself and shows off nothing.

The Garnacha comes from the Els Montalts vineyard in Catalonia's Montsant, at 800 metres of altitude — winegrowing here rarely goes much higher. The soils are clay and gypsum, the vines are about 50 years old and farmed biodynamically. The altitude brings cool nights and slow ripening.

Pure Garnacha. Tatjana Peceric and Dominik Huber ferment the grapes with the stems and work with gentle extraction; the wine is aged exclusively in concrete tanks, with no use of oak. Early harvesting keeps the alcohol level moderate, and yields at the estate run between 15 and 20 hectolitres per hectare. The wine is neither fined nor filtered, and sulphur additions remain minimal.

Clear and pure, without any make-up. The tannins are fine and elegant, the texture silky to waxy, the finish long and spicy. The nose stays floral and mineral, nobly restrained, gaining complexity with air. Freshness and spice carry this slender red wine through to the end.

Terroir Sense Fronteres, founded in 2017 by Tatjana Peceric and Dominik Huber, classifies its wines hierarchically; the Marcenca holds the rank of Premier Cru. Grapes are hand-trodden with their stems, and the cellar uses neither a destemmer nor barriques.