We’ve all got a unique story about our route into wine—Tatjana Peceric’s path came through a love of dance. Growing up in Serbia, Peceric was immersed in the world of traditional Serbian folk dance, a passion that would see her regularly touring France as part of a respected troupe. These visits to France changed everything. It was here, amid the quasi-religious culture of cooking, eating and breaking bread with others, that Peceric became deeply influenced by the customs, traditions and sense of place within France’s food and wine culture—a far cry from the more prosaic attitudes back home.  

To paraphrase a line from the memoirs of Alice Waters, the young Serbian’s tastes had been awakened in France, but it wasn’t limited to just the cuisine. Peceric finally hung up her dancing shoes at the age of 24 before moving to Montpellier to earn her oenology spurs. A varied wine apprenticeship followed, taking her to New Zealand, Spain, Bordeaux, Canada and Switzerland. It was while she was in Switzerland—through a mutual friend that was influential in the world of biodynamics—that Peceric was scouted by Terroir al Limit’s Dominik Huber (who would later concede this to be the best winemaking decision he ever made).

Peceric is adamant that while Montsant does not share Priorat’s fame, its finest terroirs are every bit as exciting—a point entirely borne out in the quality of her wines.

Intrigued by the counterculture Huber was building in Priorat, Peceric moved to Torroja in 2016 and quickly established herself, not only as the guiding light of Huber’s Montsant project, Terroir Sense Fronteres, but also as the head winemaker at Terroir al Límit. Part of the deal, Peceric explains, was that she would also be given the time to establish her own label, something she had been dreaming about since her first posting as a stagiaire. And thus, Coreografía was minted in 2018 with the first release of Pas de Deux, a graceful mountain blend of Garnacha and Carignan that takes its name from the ballet duet performed by the principal dancers. 

While the vineyards of Terroir Sense Fronteres lie in Figuera and Capçanes (in Montsant’s south), Peceric’s label sees her explore the region’s cooler, higher vineyards of Cornudella de Montsant, the DO’s northernmost village. Here she works with a close friend who farms what Peceric terms a “beautiful biodynamic garden” at a nosebleed altitude of 700 meters above sea level. The site’s mature, 50-plus-year-old vines are rooted in light red clay with gypsum veins, which, alongside Peceric’s retro/modern winemaking, draw out a higher-toned, more floral and edgy expression of Montsant’s two principal red varieties.

Peceric is adamant that while Montsant does not share Priorat’s fame, its finest terroirs are every bit as exciting—a point entirely borne out in the quality of her wines. They carry the unique mineral signature of their rocky soils and have the kind of freshness, lightness of being, crunchy/juiciness and textural sensuality that one is usually more likely to encounter further north in the top cellars of Burgundy and the Rhône Valley.