2023 Terroir al Limit Priorat Historic Blanc, Catalonia

The 2023 Terroir Històric Blanc aims to express the Priorat character through using grapes from the different villages. The blend is 75% Garnacha Blanca and 25% Macabeo, fermented with full clusters in concrete for three to five days and aged it in stainless steel for six months. It has a pale and bright color and an expressive nose with some savory qualities, reminiscent of food (broth) that brings me to the umami character. It's complex and elegant, with pungent and marked flavors. It comes in with 13% alcohol.

93 points Luis Gutiérrez robertparker.com

Born from the dramatic terraces of Priorat, this white is a love letter to a region better known for thunderous reds. Terroir al Límit was founded by Dominik Huber and Eben Sadie with a clear purpose to translate Priorat’s wild landscape into wines of transparency, finesse and drinkability rather than sheer extraction. Historic Blanc is built from old vine, local white varieties, typically Garnatxa Blanca and Pedro Ximénez, with other native grapes sometimes contributing depending on the vintage, all sourced from steep, hand worked plots scattered across the villages of Priorat. These vineyards sit on llicorella, the region’s iconic fractured slate, which acts like a heat sponge by day and releases warmth at night, helping ripen fruit while imprinting a salty, stony signature. Altitude, strong diurnal shifts and relentless sun create a paradoxical style, ripe and textural yet driven by freshness and mineral tension.

The winemaking is all about preserving that sense of place. Fruit is picked for balance, not maximal ripeness, and handled gently to avoid phenolic harshness while still capturing texture. Fermentation and maturation are geared toward restraint rather than obvious oak sweetness, aiming for a white that feels lifted and precise, with Priorat’s trademark mineral grip. The result is a wine that behaves like a serious table white, built to sit alongside food, evolve in bottle and tell a story over time rather than simply deliver fruit.

In the glass it shows pale gold with a faint green sheen. Aromas are layered and quietly complex, opening with preserved lemon, grapefruit pith and ripe pear, then moving into white peach, fennel frond, dried mountain herbs and a distinctive wet stone, crushed slate note. There is often a subtle smoky edge and a savoury hint that feels like sea spray carried inland, even though Priorat is ruggedly inland, because the llicorella and the dry air create that mineral illusion. With air, you can get almond skin, chamomile and a touch of beeswax like depth rather than overt tropical fruit.

The palate is where Historic Blanc really flexes. It is medium bodied but not heavy, with a firm, chalky texture that feels almost tactile, like powdered slate and lemon pith. Flavours sit in the citrus and orchard spectrum, lemon curd, quince, pear and stone fruit, but the key is the savoury line running through the middle, dried herbs, subtle bitterness and a saline snap that tightens the finish. Acidity is bright and integrated, giving lift and length rather than sharpness. The finish is long, mineral and slightly phenolic in the best way, which is why it is so brilliant with food.

This is a white for serious eating. Think grilled octopus with olive oil and smoked paprika, prawns with garlic and parsley, roast chicken with preserved lemon, pork loin with fennel, saffron rice, salt cod croquettes, or creamy dishes that need a wine with both acid and grip. It also loves aged sheep’s milk cheeses and anything with almonds or browned butter because the wine’s savoury, nutty side locks in. Serve it a touch warmer than fridge cold so the texture and herbal complexity can spread out, and consider a short decant if it feels tight on opening.

Cellar potential is excellent. Drink it young for citrus drive and slatey tension, or hold it five to ten years as it gains beeswax, roasted nuts and deeper savoury complexity while keeping that mineral spine. Historic Blanc is one of those rare whites that feels both sun kissed and razor precise, Priorat in a white wine voice, with drama, texture and a finish that keeps echoing.