2022 Aixala i Alcait 'Les Clivelles' Vineyard Carinyena DOQ

Sussi and Jordi are the real deal. Back in 2006, they took a massive leap - buying up small, often-abandoned family plots around Torroja and trying to make a go of it. Jordi was working full-time at a local cellar while looking after his vines after hours. Sussi, a schoolteacher, became the face and voice of the project. But just as they were getting started, the GFC hit. For two years, they sold grapes and didn’t even get paid. But they held on. By 2012, they’d turned a tiny cellar into the beating heart of their dream, bottling their own wine under the Aixalà i Alcait label. Now Jordi’s also the town’s mayor and a fierce advocate for sustainable farming. They farm with love, make wine with purpose, and live just next door to the vines they tend. Legends.

Say it with me: aysh-lah-al-cay-eet. Nestled in the tiny hilltop village of Torroja, right in the heart of Priorat, this micro-estate is built on steep, slatey terraces that Jordi and Sussi farm by hand -tractor, donkey, and all. They’ve been working these plots since the early 2000s, certified organic, super low-intervention. The cellar's tiny... but they work magic in there, making small-batch wines full of soul and place. And bonus: they make a banging olive oil from arbequinas growing between the vines. Obsessed.