2016 Herencia Altes La Peluda Terra Alta Spain 750 ml

Discovering Terra Alta the Hard Way

When our rental car got caught in a violent flash flood outside Batea on our way to visit Herència Altés, it almost felt as if the region was summoning its natural forces to keep us outsiders out. This is a rugged place far off the tourist track where things are still done the old way, where cobblestone streets are scented with olives and almonds, and little old ladies pick grapes from gnarled vines in sun-baked fields.

Yet this small Catalonian region conceals profound secrets: deeply perfumed with red berries and flowers, richly endowed with mountain berry concentration and spice on the palate, revealing a stunning, mineral-driven finish. Jeb Dunnuck calls it “a great value from a tiny region” and “charming, elegant, incredibly drinkable” while Vinous advises: “Pricing for wines here has not yet caught up with quality, so value-minded readers should pay attention to this region.”

The 2016 Herència Altés La Peluda is one of the unthinkable values Vinous was talking about. Today, we’re sharing the hidden treasure of this rugged region at the base of the Pyrenees, a fabulously elegant high-altitude red that combines the firm structure, old-vine finesse, and smoky minerality you’d expect from a top Côtes du Rhône or nearby Priorat with an $18 price tag.

  Great wine is so often a matter of geology, as dirt obsessives like Rhys Vineyards’ Kevin Harvey and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Aubert de Villaine know. And no one knows the soil here quite like winery co-owner Nùria Altés, who grew up as a child in Terra Alta vineyards owned and cultivated by her family for generations. She calls this La Peluda release her “Pinot Noir,” coaxing high-toned grace and beautiful red fruit and floral notes out of the Garnacha Peluda grape, a mutation of Grenache.

The key is the local soil, called pañal: chalky, sandy topsoil layered over deep clay and limestone that lends incredible expressivity and retains water well during long summers in which little rain falls. Elevations of 1,500 feet above sea level and punishing winds call to mind the harsh but beautiful vineyards of Côte-Rôtie. Farmed organically, employing 30% whole-cluster fermentation and aged in large oak barrels, this is a gorgeous, traditionally made, terroir-driven red that delivers so much pleasure for less than $20.

Stock up before it starts showing up on sommeliers’ Instagrams!