Spain · Priorat

Celler de Sanui

The only Costers del Segre winery inside Lleida city, farming a single ten-hectare block of calcareous-clay ground on the Torres de Sanui estate. Two tiers: a fruit-led Tempranillo-Syrah-Merlot red and an oak-aged white blending Macabeo, Riesling and Muscat de Frontignan.

The producer

Celler de Sanui holds a position no other estate shares: it is the only winery registered under the Costers del Segre denomination within the municipal boundaries of Lleida city. The vineyards occupy the Partida de Torres de Sanui on Lleida's western edge, a single contiguous block of more than ten hectares on semi-deep calcareous-clay soils. The denomination itself stretches across a wide inland sweep of Catalonia, shaped by a semi-arid continental climate where hot, dry summers and sharp diurnal temperature swings keep acidity alive in the fruit.

The range divides into two tiers. El Petit de Sanui Negre blends Tempranillo, Syrah and Merlot into an everyday red built for early drinking, with red plum, blackberry, pepper and rounded tannins. The Prat d'Hores line carries the estate's more deliberate work: a Macabeo, Riesling and Muscat de Frontignan white aged ten months in French oak, dry and full on the palate with ripe stone fruit, caramel and a long finish. The Riesling at thirty percent holds the oak weight in check, keeping the wine interesting rather than merely rich.

Known for

Oak-aged white blend of Macabeo, Riesling and Muscat de Frontignan; single-estate Costers del Segre within Lleida city.

Notable facts

The story

The Only Winery in Lleida

No sourced producer-specific episode is available for Celler de Sanui. The most documented moment in the estate's visible history is 2019, when the Prat d'Hores wines were introduced as the first crianza-style releases from the property, extending a range that had begun with the youthful El Petit de Sanui pair. No named person, decision, conflict or dated event behind that expansion is recorded in the available sources. This anecdote will be completed when a sourced episode is available.

From the atlas

Celler de Sanui

At A Glance

The Producer

Celler de Sanui holds a position no other winery shares: it is the only estate registered under the Costers del Segre denomination of origin within the municipal boundaries of Lleida city. The estate occupies the Partida de Torres de Sanui, a named locality on Lleida's western edge reached via the old Cerdera road, and its vineyards form a single unbroken block of more than ten hectares. That physical coherence, one estate, one continuous piece of ground, shapes everything about how the range is built.

The Lleida location matters because Costers del Segre is not a compact appellation. It stretches across a broad inland swath of Catalonia through Lleida province and into parts of Tarragona, covering a semi-arid continental landscape where summers are hot and dry but nights cool sharply. Those diurnal swings keep acidity alive in grapes that might otherwise flatten in the heat. Celler de Sanui sits at the city end of this territory, closer to the provincial capital than to the more remote sub-zones of the denomination.

The range divides into two clear tiers. El Petit de Sanui is the everyday line, a fruit-forward red at an accessible price point. The Prat d'Hores label carries the oak-aged wines, both a white and a red, and marks the point in the range where the estate moves toward more deliberate cellar work.

Place

Costers del Segre is an appellation shaped by drought-adapted viticulture. The continental climate produces hot, dry summers with low humidity and little rainfall during the growing season, conditions that demand careful water management and reward grape varieties that can hold freshness under heat. The strong difference between daytime and night-time temperatures, common across this inland Catalan territory, slows ripening in the final weeks before harvest. The wines documented in the packet show lively or balanced acidity.

The Torres de Sanui estate sits on calcareous-clay soils described as semi-deep with good mineral composition. Calcareous soils, meaning soils with a meaningful limestone content, moderate vine vigour and slow water uptake in ways that concentrate flavour in the grape without forcing the vine into stress. The clay fraction retains enough moisture to see vines through dry summers without irrigation supplements. These two soil qualities, the limestone skeleton and the clay body, explain why the reds hold freshness despite the warmth of the growing season.

Lleida city itself surrounds this vineyard on its western edge, which gives the estate an unusual urban adjacency for a Costers del Segre producer. The denomination is more commonly associated with rural or mountain-adjacent sub-zones; the Torres de Sanui block is close enough to the city to be listed in a garden centre's access road.

Soil And Site

The vineyard block exceeds ten hectares in a single contiguous piece, which means all fruit comes from one coherent parcel with consistent soil type and aspect. Semi-deep calcareous-clay soils run throughout. The calcareous component supplies the mineral backbone that registers as a dry, slightly stony quality in the wines. The clay holds water and moderates vine stress through the long warm summers. Parcels of this composition in semi-arid inland Catalonia tend to produce grapes with concentrated fruit character balanced by natural acidity, rather than the heavy, low-acid profile that hotter coastal Spanish regions can generate.

Story

The estate's clearest visible movement is the expansion of its range in 2019 with the introduction of the Prat d'Hores wines as the first crianza-style releases from the property. Before that point, the range centred on the El Petit de Sanui pair: an everyday red blend and a lighter counterpart in the same approachable style. The Prat d'Hores line added a different kind of ambition, wines built for time in barrel and more weight in the glass.

The Prat d'Hores Blanco 2019 was the first white wine from the estate to go through extended oak ageing, spending ten months in French oak before release. Its three-grape blend, Macabeo at sixty percent, Riesling at thirty and Muscat de Frontignan at ten, is unusual for Costers del Segre, where white production tends to be dominated by Macabeo and Xarel-lo rather than the Alsatian varieties that appear here alongside the local grape. Riesling is rarely planted this far south and west in Catalonia. Its presence alongside Muscat de Frontignan in an oak-aged blend signals a deliberate choice to introduce aromatic complexity alongside the weight and texture that the wood and the Macabeo base supply.

The on-site winery tour with a five-wine tasting available through the Lleida Wine Route places the estate within a local wine-tourism circuit, suggesting a producer oriented toward direct engagement with visitors alongside export and wholesale distribution.

Vineyards And Cellar

The single contiguous vineyard block simplifies farming decisions: one soil type, one microclimate, one harvest window to manage across the whole estate. Calcareous-clay soils in a semi-arid continental climate require careful management of vine water status, particularly in August when temperatures peak. The soil's clay component provides a natural buffer.

In the cellar, the two tiers reflect different approaches. El Petit de Sanui Negre is made for early drinking: a Tempranillo, Syrah and Merlot blend assembled for red-fruit accessibility, medium body and the kind of fresh tannins that do not demand years of cellaring. The Merlot softens the blend; the Syrah pushes the peppery, darker-fruited element that runs through the palate and finish.

Prat d'Hores Blanco takes a different route. Ten months in French oak on the Macabeo-Riesling-Muscat blend adds texture and the caramel and toast notes documented in the 2019 vintage, while the Riesling fraction works against the oak weight, keeping the wine's natural stone-fruit and pear character from disappearing under the wood. The white wine is broad, persistent, and dry despite the aromatic grapes in the blend.

Wines

El Petit de Sanui Negre is the entry point: Tempranillo, Syrah and Merlot in a fruit-led, medium-bodied red. The 2021 vintage opened with red plum and blackberry, with pepper, menthol, liquorice and a touch of bramble leaf in the aromatic register. The palate brought candied strawberry, red plum and raspberry, with fresh acidity and rounded tannins. The finish persists with pepper. An earlier 2019 bottling, labelled Al Petit de Sanui, showed a lighter, more volatile profile: tart cherry, green pepper and paint on the nose, dry and fruity in the mouth with lively acidity and soft tannins. The two vintages together show a wine built for early drinking across a range of fruit weights.

Prat d'Hores Blanco is a more serious commitment: sixty percent Macabeo, thirty percent Riesling and ten percent Muscat de Frontignan, aged ten months in French oak. The 2019 vintage registered ripe stone fruit and pear with caramel, toast and pastry notes from the wood. The palate was broad and full, with persistent flavour and a long, weighty finish. Dry in overall character despite the aromatic grape varieties in the blend.

Prat d'Hores Negre sits alongside the Blanco as a barrel-aged red, with more complex wood handling than the everyday Petit line. Detailed sensory notes are limited in the available record.

Clos de Sanui Garnatxa appears in the range but carries no documented blend, cellar treatment or taste character.

In The Glass

El Petit de Sanui Negre rises from the glass with a mixed red-fruit and herbal signal: plum and blackberry carry the main fruit line, with pepper and menthol working underneath. In the mouth the fruit turns slightly candied, raspberry and strawberry joining the darker plum register, while fresh acidity and rounded tannins keep the wine from feeling heavy. The peppery finish lingers. The wine is accessible, designed for immediate pleasure rather than development, and the Syrah contribution drives most of its aromatic interest.

Prat d'Hores Blanco moves differently. The aromatic signal is warm rather than lifted: ripe pear and stone fruit come first, then the caramel and toast that ten months in French oak have layered into the Macabeo base. In the mouth it spreads broadly, filling the palate with weight and persistent flavour. The Riesling fraction keeps the wine from collapsing into flatness, providing just enough cut beneath the fullness. The finish is long and dry, carrying the oak-influenced texture well past the initial stone-fruit impression.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Prat d'Hores Blanco. It is the wine where the estate's ambitions and its unusual grape choices are most legible: a Lleida-grown Macabeo-Riesling-Muscat blend, ten months in French oak, dry and full on the palate. The 2019 vintage showed ripe stone fruit and pear framed by caramel and toast, broad through the mid-palate and persistent on the finish. The Riesling is not decorative; at thirty percent it holds the wine's acidity against the oak weight, keeping the texture interesting rather than merely rich. Order it with roast pork or aged sheep's cheese and the weight makes sense immediately.

Anecdote

Sourced anecdote pending. No dated producer-specific event is documented in the available sources. A sourced episode is not documented.

Final Word

Celler de Sanui is a small estate doing something specific: farming a single ten-hectare block of calcareous-clay ground inside Lleida city and turning it into two clearly differentiated tiers of wine. The El Petit de Sanui Negre handles the everyday end with straightforward fruit and fresh pepper. The Prat d'Hores Blanco handles the more serious register, with an unusual white blend and a year in French oak that produces a wine with genuine weight and persistence. For a Costers del Segre producer, the Riesling and Muscat in that white blend are a curiosity worth pursuing.

Sources

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