What’s Cool About Navarra? Just About Everything!
What’s Cool in Navarra? Just About Everything
By Deborah Hansen, Wine Matters, LLC
Hot sun, cool clime
The brilliant Spanish sun is the stuff of legends and songs, but in northern Spain in October, she does not rouse herself until about 8:30 am. If you’re on a wine trip, you’ll have a glass of wine in hand by 10:30 am. Such were my days as I traversed Navarra recently. In this lovely land that nestles into the foothills of the Pyrenees and extends southward to the banks of the River Ebro, and eastward to the Bardenas desert, I was dazzled by how incredibly cool the place is, blinding Spanish sun and all.
Who and what are conferring coolness upon Navarra? First and foremost, a new generation of winemakers. Oh, and then there’s that Bay of Biscay (Atlantic), those Pyrenees and that Cantábrian range (mountains), and the very latitude itself (42.78º). The place exudes cool.
Pilgrims and pests
Officially a D.O. since 1933*, Navarra has been an vinicultural center since Roman rule. Later during the Middle Ages, its locus along the famed Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route afforded winemakers a steady stream of both customers and contributors. Wine was a staple not a luxury, and viticulture flourished, reaching it’s pinnacle in the mid 19th century with approximately 50,000 hectares of vineyards. A widespread outbreak of powdery mildew soon thereafter would reduce this number considerably.
*Denominación de Origen, or Designated Origin
Simultaneously, France’s wine industry was decimated by this powdery mildew followed by a new pest from American soils called phylloxera. Thousands of French wine folk beelined southward across the Pyrenees in search of wine, vines, and jobs. They brought thirst and need, but also centuries of craft; the first barrel-aged wines in Spain emerged during this heyday.
By the end of the century, phylloxera had lain waste to most of Spain’s vineyards as well, save the sandiest and most mountainous of places. In Navarra, the replanting of the vineyards reveals an almost pure devotion to the garnacha grape and an abrupt dismissal of the mazuela (cariñena or carignan) that had been so widespread in centuries previous.
Garnacha took well to the necessary grafting onto American rootstock, and it was highly productive and resistant. The landscape was quite literally changed in Navarra.
Garnacha rosé, long before it was cool
Dark-hued rosado (rosé), made mostly from garnacha grapes, rapidly became one of Navarra’s most noteworthy wines and to this day still accounts for 30% of the rosé sold in Spain. Sultry in spirit and far more complex than today’s ballet-slipper pink specimens, these rosados taste of things classic and vinous: red fruits, iodine, dried roses, and sometimes of barrel. The color palette ranges from exuberant magenta, through friend-not-lover pink roses, to a vivid copper that Crayola calls sunset orange and the Spanish call ojo de perdiz, partridge eye.
The rosado gamut is wide, reflecting the complexity of a region whose varied cuisine requires a many-splendored accompaniment; whose capital city of Pamplona is still home to the running of the bulls after 400 years yet still has no airport; whose denizens may feel more Basque than Spanish; whose land has been trodden by traveling pilgrims for over a thousand years. It makes sense that the traditional Navarran rosados tend more blood-hued than tutu-tinted, smacking of dark berries, ferrous earth, and ripe tannins as they do. Now as then, they are made almost exclusively in the sangrado method (saignée, in French), whereby fresh juice is bled off after a few hours of contact with red grapes to then ferment on their own. The maximum amount of free-run juice is 40 liters per 100 kilos of grapes.
You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone
The late 1980’s were a time of uprooting in Spain. The wine-rich EC required hectares of ‘inferior’ grapevines to be pulled, and many an old, low-yielding garnacha vine fell into that demoralizing category. They were unceremoniously supplanted with ‘improving’ varietals such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and syrah, which would show better in the newly-popular oaky, very ripe, international style of wine. Chardonnay had been present in the zone since the 1200’s when the French King Theobold of Champagne brought vines and winemakers to his new kingdom, and it enjoyed a reawakening in this era. Fast asleep went the tradition of lighter-bodied, low-tannin, fresh reds so enjoyed over the centuries.
Today, the liveliest wines in Navarra are exactly those graceful garnachas. Despite the drastic loss of most of their garnacha vines, or perhaps because of this very loss, the winemakers with whom I tasted last autumn all shared a penchant for garnacha. Now accounting for approximately 27.5 % of the total grape production in Navarra, garnacha is seriously cool again, despite her inherent challenges. She requires a deft hand, as she’s astringent if pressed too hard. One needs patience and a high tolerance to risk as she is a late-ripening grape, which gives Mother Nature more opportunities to confound with rain and frost. She’s also prone to spiking her alcohol levels, so the harvest date has to be ultra precise. Garnacha is also highly oxidative so long barrel aging isn’t a good career choice for her. Her thin skin means she’s not too tannic and a bit sensitive to botrytis, but her naturally high acid levels are very much in vogue and at last she is claiming the attention and fandom she so deserves. Garnacha, like Navarra itself, is having a moment. It’s all very cool.
Bodegas Inurrieta: The first of nine wineries and five sub zones in four days
The first winery we visited was Bodegas Inurrieta, in the sub zone of Ribera Alta where there’s a confluence of Continental and Mediterranean climates. A large outfit with 500 acres and thirteen different wines, they successfully craft wines for the supermarket as well as for the elitist of gastronomic tables. I tasted all 13 wines, as well as barrel samples and experimental varietals - yes, starting at 10:30 am - and my palate was perfectly pleased. The very first wine, Mimao 2023 garnacha blanca, was my initial glimpse into a trend I had not expected, a theme I would see repeated on each day of my Discover Navarra Media trip. Although comprising less than 2.5% of production, garnacha blanca is the medium of choice for some of the most cutting edge, impressive white wines I experienced in my travels. Winemakers in all five of Navarra’s sub zones (Valdizarbe, Baja Montaña, Ribera Alta, Ribera Baja, and Tierra Estella) are crafting white grenache wines that are balanced and bright, full of gently ripened fruit aromas, and creamy yet chiseled. They possess the energetic contrast of fine, cool alabaster in a Mediterranean orchard full of loquats and lilies.
Innurieta’s Mimao 2023 was a stunning introduction into this genre. It was perfumed but not cloying, redolent of almond, apricot, and Easter lilies. (See descriptions of all the wines I tasted at the end of this article). Another important trail marker along the wine route in Navarra was their Mediodía 2024, a dark and vivid rosé. The name means ‘Mid-day’ but it bore none of the corruptive, offensive connotations that a similarly-named canned drink of hard alcohol and seltzer evokes when I see it on liquor store shelves that used to hold fine wine in the USA. Rather, “You love wine!” is Mediodia’s message, and her very color conveyed purpose and passion. It smacked of Navarra in a glass. A blend of garnacha, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, graciano, and merlot, Mediodia looks like cherry juice, then brings strawberry and wet stone notes to the party. Bone dry and delightfully tart, it’s wine that brings more wine drinkers into the fold.
At the other end of the wide spectrum was Altos de Inurrieta Reserva 2020, a dark and smokey wine of 75% graciano and 25% cabernet sauvignon. Deemed ‘Best Wine of Spain, Bacchus Oro’ four times already, this big, expressive wine is an excellent example of fearless new winemaking trends. Blending Spain’s tart and tannic (more seeds than any other grape!) graciano, with the easy-ripening cabernet sauvignon is bold ingenuity. You may know graciano as the grape that so gallantly supports and guides tempranillo into old age in Rioja and cabernet sauvignon as Bordeaux’s age-worthy pride and pillar; here they blend beautifully as they challenge tradition.
Bodegas San Martin: A cool incongruence
One of the coolest, hippest young winemakers in Navarra is also the winemaker for a cooperative, that organization known for creating practices and wine that are… fair. Winemaker Gonzalo Celayeta makes wine that clocks in way above ‘fair’ at a resounding ‘excellent.’ At the Cooperativa known as Bodegas San Martin he makes three wines named Alma de Untx, garnachas all; a white, a rosado, and red. (He also makes wines of his own, as you’ll see in the tasting notes at the end). Each was a quintessential, herbaceous and structured example of the garnacha grape grown in this rugged, arid earth in the windy foothills of the Pyrenees, but bordering on a the Bardenas desert, the largest in Europe, that delivers intense Mediterranean heat. As we made our way to Gonzalo’s little tasting temple in the vineyard, tangles of pale, dried herbs crunched beneath our feet at every step, intensified by the warm sun and unceasing breeze.
This unique, scrubby, mountain-ringed landscape lies in the sub zone Baja Montaña, and the cooperative that Celayeta stewards is known as San Martin de Untx. Initially representing 192 growers, they’ve been turning their herb-scented garnacha grapes into wine for the locals since 1914. Around this time in Southern Europe, cooperatives were formed to help stem the flow of destitute farmers abandoning their lands due to decreasing prices and increasingly challenging agricultural conditions. A community beset by the twin the plagues of pests and corporate extortion, grape growers could scarcely eke out a living. Cooperatives committed to buying every grower’s grapes for fair prices; then they produced, bottled, and sold the wines whose profits were then distributed back to these same viñerones (grape growers). This communal concept was a lifeline and stabilized many rural communities. The downside was, and often still is, the inherent incentive for growers to harvest high yields, (payment is by the kilo), which is at odds with the fine winemaking that requires low yields. This flaw in the system was negligible in the first three quarters of the century as Spain weathered not only two world wars and a global depression, but also a Civil War and almost 4 decades of a fascist, repressive dictatorship. Wine was a beloved necessity consumed at most meals; the expectation was that it deliver refreshment, peace, and familiarity, not lofty levels of the sublime. Once Spain was admitted to the EU in 1985 (at that time it was called the EEC, the European Economic Community), investment flowed and wineries benefitted. Technology ushered in a new era of cleaner, finer winemaking, and cooperatives lagged behind. Gradually, Spaniards began drinking less everyday wine purchased at local bodegas where they refill your old bottle from a spigot, and more expensive, branded wine.
Bodegas San Martin has stayed relevant and proven resilient, operating continuously since 1914; they still have 80 grower members. I’m fascinated by cooperatives that overdeliver, and this is a winning example of such excellence. The 2024 Alma de Untx Garnacha Blanca offered a glorious bouquet of fennel pollen, thyme, and white rose followed by lemon oil and juniper on the palate. The 2024 garnacha rosado of the same name was an energetic mouthful, complex with those mountain herbs spicing up bright cherry and strawberry fruit. And the 2023 Alma de Untx Garnacha Tinta was the quintessential garnacha with its firm-edged tannins lacing up a beautiful bodice of ripe cherry, pomegranate, stone dust, and summer savory.
I love when garnacha dares to be delicate, and the winemaker doesn’t ratchet up the tannins to fit into the easy popularity of ‘full-bodied.’ This is what I’m always seeking in a glass of garnacha, that harmony between sufficient tannin to be structured, but not so much as to be too tightly muscled and dominant; fruit that reads red and ripe, but not so ripe that sweet gum flavors emerge; and, an echo of the birthplace, in this case a terroir abundant in tenacious herbs. All three Almas were complex, transparent, balanced, and quite inexpensive - and far better than any wine I’ve been served at stateside weddings.
Bodegas Ochoa: Humble winemaking royalty
In the Ribera Alta lies the renown Bodegas Ochoa, where Adriana and Beatriz are ushering in a new era for their family winery. I was familiar with their sublime sweet moscatel - it was on my wine list in my restaurant in Madrid back in the 1990’s. Grape growers since 1370 and a full-fledged winery by 1845, Ochoa is flourishing under their respectful yet progressive leadership. The 6th generation sisters exude passion, humility, and savvy. They’ve divided their broad range of wines into three categories: Ahora (Now), the wines made in their own expression of the land they inherited and steward; Aqui (Here), the mono-varietal wines uniquely reflective of this place; and, Siempre (Always), the legacy wines of the storied winery. Their father was the director of Evena, (Estación de Viticultura e Enología de Navarra) the viticultural and enological research station, from 1980 - 1992 and figured prominently in Navarra’s wine revolution.
Here in the Ribera Alta, smack dab in the center of Navarra’s viticultural area in and around the town of Olite, we were again at a crossroads of climates. Cool and moist Atlantic air flows from the northwest while the arid desert influence blows in from the east. This creates the coveted diurnal temperature swing that can be the difference between good wines and great. Long, warm days allow for optimal ripening, but cool nights allow the vines to rest and reset. Too much heat makes cloying, overripe wines while a lack of it yields thin and reedy wines.
Adriana and Beatriz Ochoa decided to convert their beautiful vineyards to organic back in 2010, and now emphasize regenerative farming. Beatriz pointed out a plot of land left fallow to allow the partridges, among other creatures, to repopulate. They recovered a small spring in the process, and planted trees to serve as a refuge. An explosion of life itself swooped and shimmered in that space, and I was overcome by the sight of such natural, riotous beauty. Beatriz and Adriana trust that sacrificing a few hectares of grapevines will allow a broader diversity of life forms to flourish, birthing a wellspring of health for their vineyards as a whole, and helping them to balance the potential ravages of climate change. I’ve found the best wines come from viñerones who humble themselves before nature rather than wrestling her into submission. They are often women.
The tasting would prove me right. In a display of superlative hospitality, the ladies of Ochoa (I saw only women on the day we visited) had set us a long table festooned with a white tablecloth, right in the vineyard, the desert looming but invisible behind us. We tasted nine of their wines, while butterflies bobbed about us in the brilliant autumn sunshine. Where there are butterflies, there are no pesticides, and the whole place reverberated with life seen and unseen. Ochoa does mean wolf in Basque, after all; perhaps the reverence for nature is simply inherent in their DNA.
Oxoa 2023 was the first wine we tasted, and it seemed to encapsulate that sunny, fragrant moment in glass. A moscatel fermented completely dry, the wine offered classic varietal aromas of honey and orange, and had spent 6 months in oak barrels and another 6 in concrete egg. Moscatel has been cultivated in Navarra since the 12th century, (like chardonnay it was brought from France by King Theobold), and the sweet, honeysuckle-scented wines were coveted by monarchs and monks alike. As golden sweet wines have fallen out of favor, the number of hectares planted to moscatel in Navarra has dwindled to just 85; Ochoa is home to 26 of them. Oxoa is a brand new way to enjoy a very old grape; light, dry, and refreshing, but with wraiths of Sweet Moscatels of Vintages Past teasing at the edges of your mind. Similarly echo-y is the Moscato de Ochoa 2024, a sparkling wine with only 5.5% alcohol and an effervescent bouquet of lychee and lemon. ¡Más, por favor!
My recently-acquired penchant for Navarran garnacha blanca was sparked anew by Ochoa’s whisper-subtle Labrit Blanco 2024 garnacha blanca. Part of the Aqui line of wines, Labrit Blanco was elegant, citric, and lean. No white flower smack-in-the-face leaving you with a virtual yellow pollen stain on your nose, but rather a quiet beauty of metallic minerals and exquisite pear blossom on the palate. Again, only a tiny fraction of their vineyard holds garnacha blanca, but you can feel the future in its sheer winsomeness. The red counterpart, Labrit Garnacha Eco, possessed a similar elegance.
At the other end of the spectrum completely, the Ochoa Gran Reserva 2005 reminded me of my love for old wine. This was the first vintage Adriana made, at the tender age of 25. In the Siempre line of wines, this classic Navarran blend of tempranillo, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon illustrates time, place, and talent in a smokey, beefy, menthol-scented red currant and silky cherry dream.
Bodegas Manzanos: Church bells for centuries
Think back to the pilgrims on their way to Galicia, if you will. The next winery I visited was founded back in the 13th century as an inn for pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostela. Known then as Las Campanas for its remarkable church bells and the town’s name, it produced the basic sort of wine necessary for refreshment, for transport in skins, and for Catholic rites. In 1890 the Fernandez de Manzanos family converted the hostel into a full-fledged winery that the fifth generation continues to lead. Now a fully modernized outfit with a sprawling collection of over 1500 hectares of vineyards in Navarra and Rioja as well as several wineries, Bodegas Manzanos produces about 15 million bottles annually. Assimilating Old World sensibilities with state of the art technology, they have finely tuned the Navarran blend of French and Spanish grapes we came to know and perhaps not always love during the 1990’s into a polished, cutting edge mode. Winemaker and technical director Borja Ripa is crafting wines of a fresher, less dense nature, even when they are full-bodied and oak-aged, as many still are.
Borja gave us 2025 tank and barrel samples to taste, and each was in that arresting, highly expressive state typical of mid-October, mere weeks after fermentation. Fermented grape juice is technically wine in the way that a tiny green apple nub on tree in June is technically an apple or the way that raw lentils and water are technically supper. What’s missing is the harmonious influence of time, nature, and talent to coax complexity from the raw to create a convincing product. Normally the October ‘wine’ unleashed directly from the tank spigots into a glass (one often plucked off a shelf shared with beakers and pruning shears, slightly besmirched and then quickly polished on someone’s shirt, in many of my winery experiences ) will be exuberant, cloudy, intensely varietal, often still bearing traces of fermentation and yeast notes. The wines will decant themselves into clarity, develop a myriad of aromatics, and evolve into that complex and inimitable quaff we also call wine. That process will never cease to fascinate me, and the splashes of chardonnay, viura, tempranillo, and garnacha I tasted spoke energetically and clearly of their varietal selves. There was no mistaking the clean, willowy chardonnay, the pithiness of the viura, the fleshy raspberry strength of tempranillo, and the herbaceous and ripe strawberry quality of the garnacha. It is thrilling to experience them naked, and for a brief moment I felt a spasm of kinship with the natural wine lovers who want every wine experience to be exactly this - unadulterated, fresh, and zingy. Alas, it doesn’t last without preservation, and that’s a discussion for another day. And yes, our glasses were clean!
The famed, deeply hued rosados of Navarra originated with Bodegas Manzanos in the 1950’s, say they. Like all the wineries I visited, they are also producing Provençal style pale rosados, but I got the general sense their hearts aren’t in it. And who can blame them, really. It’s like swapping beef tenderloin for tofu or maybe just another example of outside pressure to chase a market trend just as they were expected to do in the 90’s when they were told to rip out garnacha and replant with cabernet and syrah. I’ve been drinking these dark roses since the ’80’s, and they’ve only gotten fresher and more complex as winemaking has modernized and the cool climate more adroitly illustrated.
We tasted the 2025 garnacha rosado tank sample, destined to be the pale bottling called Las Campanas Rosé, and it was attractively tight, crisp, and herbal. It did, however, pale in comparison to the deep pink 2025 tempranillo rosado barrel sample, destined to become the Castillo de Olite Rosado, which was a sensual offering of ripe raspberry and cherry, with notes of wintergreen and brambly blackberry. Interestingly, it is made by the sangrado (bled) method with the addition of the last pressing of the Las Campanas Rose. A wine-lovers rosé, to be sure! I also found the 1864 Castillo de Olite Chardonnay 2024 to be irresistible, as you will see in my enthusiastic tasting notes.
Marques del Atrio: Big footprint, artisanal spirit
The next winery to see was Marques del Atrio, in the Ribera Baja sub zone. An outfit even larger than Manzanos, its holdings sprawl across several D.O.’s in Spain and they export to 50 countries. It, too, is in the hands of the fifth generation of family members and perhaps this is why the sheer size of the operation was never palpable in their quite
delicious wines. You know how we wine professionals are. We definitely tend to prize tiny over towering, so it is particularly noteworthy when the big boys deliver. I felt edified and enchanted as I tasted garnacha in almost every possible color and stage of life within two of their bottlings, the Doña Isabel and the Faustino Ribero Ulécia lines. The 2025 tank samples of white, pink, pinker, and red were all as fresh, boisterous, and charming as they should be, like recess at a kindergarten. The garnacha tinta, for example, had yet to undergo malolactic fermentation,* and glowed with an intense shade of violet. I could feel its purity and potential in the exuberant purple-red fruits and crushed stone notes. Winemaker Rodrigo Espinosa espouses the Ulysses technique that, among other things, maximizes terroir (a deep root system is encouraged). He uses compressed air instead of pumps, resulting in gentler technique that extracts less tannin, creates fewer lees, and minimizes green flavors. Perfect for the late ripening, sensitive, thin-skinned garnacha .
*The fermentation process whereby the sharp malic acid in the wine is converted to smooth lactic acid, resulting in a rounder, lusher wine
With our rustic lunch of jamón, tortilla, roasted red peppers, tomato-tuna salad and bread, I took deep draughts - as opposed to the calibrated mouthfuls that get spat out while tasting - of the 2021 Garnacha Crianza Fernando Rivero Ulécia. A blend of 92% garnacha and 8% merlot aged for 9 months in old American oak, the wine was soft and spicy, with a dark cherry core seasoned with autumn leaf notes. I perceived the merlot as a subtle and welcome garnish that took the wine to into its fullest harmony, as Angostura bitters does in a cocktail.
Aroa: Purity on a hill
I shivered audibly as a chilling light rain called chirrimirri in Basque dripped down my neck and the fog obscured my view of the Urbasa and Andia mountains in the distance. Atop a 440 meter high hill amidst truculent centenary garnacha vines interspersed with gnarled and dead ones, I’ve never felt so alive.
Spellbound, I listened to winemaker Iñaki Olaberri and Joaquin Gámez discuss their reverence for this land here at a winey called Aroa, in the Tierra Estella sub zone. They poured me a cold glass of Lakar 2020, their high-end bottling of garnacha. Technically the cepage is 97% garnacha tinta, 2 % garnacha blanca, and 1% unidentified varietals, all from this spectacular vineyard dotted with olive trees, scrubby pine, and broom.
Using some biodynamic and all organic farming methods, they craft low- and no-sulfite wines; to Lakar they add 14 g per liter. The wine was almost black, and practically opaque. Made in concrete tanks, it later rests in old foudres for five months. From that dense liquid arose the fragrance of eucalyptus, walnut skin, and black cherry, and then it utterly charmed my palate with warming brown spice notes embedded in a red-fruited dew. The very soul of garnacha revealed herself to me in that moment, unabashed. It was so delicious I forgot to spit. I was feeling more alive by the minute.
Back at the uber resource-preserving winery, we tasted tank samples that were electrifying examples of unadulterated garnacha, followed by Aroa’s line of wines called Le Naturel, including a Pet Nat, all made with no added sulfites. The 2024 Le Naturel Garnacha, designed for early drinking due to its unpreserved state, ( I love that they point this out!!) was a violet-scented, strawberry-rich garnacha that felt like a throwback to two centuries prior, so pure and unabashedly beguiling was this wine. You could almost taste Aroa’s profound commitment to sustainability. Or maybe it was the prestigious certifications I could see on the wall, especially the Wineries for Climate Protection, granted to only a handful of Spanish wineries. At Aroa, the philosophy is based upon a respect for nature’s logical order, and a promise to give back to the land that has so generously given to them. There was a harmonious energy about the place.
Señorio de Sarría: Precision and tradition
The ninth and final winery, in the Valdizarbe sub zone, was Señorio de Sarria, another I remembered from my restaurant-owning days in Madrid. For the second time on this wine trek, I only saw women at the winery. This intrigued me, for when I co-owned said restaurant in Madrid during the 90’s, every single salesman would ask if my husband was available when it was in fact me who did all the wine purchasing. They were even more skeptical when I wrote a check. In 1998, I was one of only four women in a class of forty students at Sommeliere school. Clearly things have evolved for the better in my dear Spain, and the winemaking as well as vineyard management here at Sarría were above reproach. Also a large operation with over 100 hectares and around 1 million kilos of grapes, the vineyards had nonetheless been meticulously selected for each varietal’s optimal growing conditions, and the average age of the vines was impressively old.
By this time in the trip I had tasted a dozen or so examples of chardonnay, the grape brought from the Champagne region to Navarra in the 12th century. At what point can we call a grape indigenous? Perhaps after nine centuries, we can. The Señorio de Sarría Chardonnay 2024 was brought to life by hands expert at growing and vinifying this grape. With all the marine layer aromas of an excellent Chablis, this Navarran Chardonnay was floral on the palate, peppered with lemon acidity, and laden with savory, oceanic notes. After a few minutes, toasted butter qualities emerged. I was smitten by its character and elegance. Right away we were given a tank sample of the 2025 vintage that was destined to become that same un-oaked and no-lees wine. Through its turbidity, I could see clearly that it was the same creature as the 2024 but with a few more fresh tropical notes, and thoroughly delicious. I could easily envision both drinking wonderfully for the next five or even ten years.
Cabernet sauvignon is also well understood and utterly mastered here. It is a grape that often gets too ripe in Spain, acting like an overzealous sweetener in many a blend. Not so with the Señorío de Sarría Reserva Especial 2019, a bewitching blend of 90% cabernet sauvignon and 10% graciano. Precision and restraint came through in the perfectly ripened blackberry fruit, and the complexity denotes a deft hand. The wine is characteristically redolent of lead pencil and fireplace, and the weight on the palate is oh so agreeable.
I walked back to our little van replete with fine wine and abundant respect for the winemakers who made time to share with us. Thoroughly impressed by all that is new and cool, and by the way they merge traditional and modernity so skillfully, I could truthfully say that Navarra is ascendent.
Summing up the Navarra Experience
Tempranillo may be Spain’s most famous grape. The legendary, age-worthy wines from Rioja put her on the map almost two centuries ago. As consumer markets, chiefly American, clamored for varietal names on labels, tempranillo acquired even more renown. Wines made from tempranillo clones, such as tinto fino in Ribera del Duero, for example, will often sport the name tempranillo for caché. Navarra itself was coerced to uproot garnacha and plant tempranillo in the 1970’s, reducing garnacha’s footprint from over 90% of the vineyard down to less than 30%. Yet, today, garnacha is a rosy red rising tide all over Spain, surpassing tempranillo in hectares. In Navarra, the wealth of old vines, those of 50 years or more, is heavily concentrated in garnacha, with over 231 hectares; tempranillo has under 5 with such age. Garnatxa is the yin to cariñena’s yang in the powerful Priorat wines. Passion projects of recovering old vines garnacha in places like the Gredos mountains and the D.O. Méntrida are earning widespread acclaim and garnering ever-higher prices. Several D.O.’s are dominated by garnacha, such as Aragón, Calatayud, Somontano, Campo de Borja, and Cariñena.
Their mettle and the moment are melding
Nowhere seems to be capturing the zeitgeist of fresh, fruity yet tensile garnacha like Navarra, where they are leaning proudly into their cool climate while drinkers are learning to value lighter wines. I witnessed not only the winemakers’ passion and aptitude for cultivating and vinifying their old new friend garnacha, but I also saw how their mettle and the moment are melding. As the next generation comes of wine-consuming age, reaching not 21 but 25 years old, they are expressing new wine criteria. More interested in sustainability than pedigree, these young drinkers demand wines that are approachable and affordable. An inarguably easy-to-love wine, garnacha also possesses many qualities that keep prices reasonable: new oak barrels are not required; the grape is prolific and plentiful in nature; the wine is delightful and drinkable when young. How fitting!
The garnachas I tasted offered a beguiling transparency of terroir and an edgy take on a grape with boundless character if properly nurtured. Once maligned, uprooted, and cast aside, garnacha is a comeback story that goes beyond economic justice and family tradition. It’s incredibly cool.
By
Deborah Hansen
Wine Matters, LLC
Owner-Chef-Sommeliere
Tasting notes
Bodegas Inurrieta: founded in 1999; Falces
Noteworthy: After EVENA embarked on a project to discover just how many distinct varietals of grapes are in Navarra - the answer is 2000 - Bodegas Inurrieta chose 20 to study and develop closely. (All 2000 are planted in their vineyards, however). Musa and oneca are two whites showing tremendous potential.
Winemaker: Jabier Marquinez
•Mimao 2023 Garnacha Blanca
Richly yet elegantly floral, with almond, apricot, and Easter lily. Perfumed but not cloying. 3-4 months in barrel, 1/3 new and 2/3 old.
•Orchidea Cuvée 2022 Sauvignon Blanc
From a windy, stony vineyard comes this sauvignon blanc who seems to have a chardonnay soul. Fermented in foudres and then aged eight months in barrel, 1/3 new and 2/3 old, the wine still needs time to rise above its oaky origins. Aromas of vanilla and flowers. Nice acidy on the palate, with characteristic passionfruit and lemon zest.
•Orchidea Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Gorgeous varietal aromas, studded with minerals. Smooth silky texture, with full-bloom sauvignon blanc passion fruit, herbs, boxwood and lime. The steep vineyard encompasses terrain that ranges from sandy soils down by the river, rolling rock in the middle, and limestone and slate at the top.
•Intacta 2024 Blanco Semidulce
Made of sauvignon blanc and left with 15 grams of residual sugar, Intacta has eye-popping acidity that balance the sweet notes. The aromatics range from flowers to marshmallow to meringue in a captivating way.
•Inurrieta Coral Rosado 2024
A blend of cabernet sauvignon and garnacha, harvested at dawn, the Coral is pale and Provençal in nature. A challenging style as no white grapes are allowed in Navarra’s rosados. In fact, until very recently, only the sangrado (saignée, or bled) method was allowed.
•Inurrieta Mediodía Rosado 2024
Garnacha, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, graciano, and merlot make up this traditional Navarran rosé. The sexy cherry color leads you into a many-splendored blossom of strawberry, stone, and tart cherry fruit. A delight - refreshing, complex, and lovably tart.
•Sur Roble 2023
Garnacha and syrah are blended here for a ‘southern’ wine sensation. Think warm-climate notes of roasted tomato, spiced meat and pansies. Full-bodied and lush.
•Norte Roble 2023
Merlot and cabernet sauvignon make up this ‘northern’ blend. Purple berries and lead pencil dominate the aromas, while plum skin and blackberry spread broadly across the palate. Rich and complex, with notes of black pepper and allspice.
•Inurrieta Cuatrocientos 2022 Crianza
A meaty blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, garnacha, and graciano that spent 12 months in oak. An easy, satisfying wine that’s balanced if straightforward.
•Innurieta Mimao Garnacha Tinta 2024
Frangrant garnacha perfection! Perfumed with cherry, red currant, and rose hips followed by an entrancing palette of dried strawberry laced with minerals and white pepper. Full, balanced, and bright, it had my mouth watering. The grapes came from 6 different plots, mostly of stony, poor soils, and the wine underwent batonage two or three times per week. Interestingly, 20% of the juice is removed to use in the Mediodia Rosado.
•Puro Vicio Syrah 2021
‘Pure Vice’ is a smokey, leathery, lovely expression of syrah in Spain. Again, it is easy for this grape to over-ripen in many parts of the country, but the cool of Navarra and the precision of winemaker Jabier keep restraint and elegance in this otherwise meaty, mouthful.
•Altos de Inurrieta 2020 Reserva
75% graciano and 25% cabernet sauvignon blend so beautifully in this wonderfully big and expressive, with black fruits, smoke and a hint of cow hide. The yin of black currant and and floral plum notes are balanced by the yang of some earthy petrol whiffs. Compelling texture and depth. Many awards have been given to this wine, including Gran Bacchus Oro, a top prize in Spain.
•Laderas de Inurrieta 2021 Graciano
It enchants the nose with ripe prunes and plums and then bathes the palate in a velvety, juicy robe of smokey dark fruits. Long, firm, and shows impressive backbone, illustrating why Riojans blend it into their most age worthy wines. For a grape with more seeds than any other, graciano shows beautifully here, thanks to careful and artful vinification.
Bodegas San Martin, Cooperativa: founded in 1914; San Martin de Untx
Noteworthy: Gonzalo Celayeta is the winemaker and technical director for the Cooperative, since 2006, and he also owns and leads two other projects: Gonzalo Celayeta Wines, since 2004, and, Bodegas Unsi, since 2014.
Winemaker: Gonzalo Celayeta
•Alma de Untx Garnatxa Blanca 2024
Aromas of fennel flower, thyme, and white rose. Beautiful on the palate, and one of the lightest white grenaches I’ve ever tasted. Lemon and almond oils, juniper, and mountain scrub. Wound with acidity.
•Unsi Garnacha Blanca 2023
Grown and made in Unsi, a small area between Unje and San Martin de Untx, the Unsi wines are bottled at the Cooperativa. Precise and graceful garnacha blanca. Incredibly silky and quite full-bodied, with notes of lemon zest and a hint of oak.
•Alma de Untx Rosado 2024
Full of character, this 100% garnacha rosé spends three months in mixed-use barrel. The cherry and strawberry notes are classic, but the wild herb and spice quality is bracing and unique - juniper, thyme, rosemary. Balanced and complex with light metallic notes and a broad, complete mouthfeel.
•Alma de Untx Garnacha 2023
Consider this quintessential red garnacha a village wine, and marvel at its expressiveness. More cherry than strawberry, the wine is pretty concentrated and exceptionally juicy, with firm-edged tannins that bring structure and balance. Five months of mixed-use barrel.
•Unsi 2021 Garnacha de Montaña
This was the most aged wine we tasted with Gonzalo, with eight months of barrel and three-plus years of bottle time. Black cherry dominates, but leathery notes, light oak, and garrigue-y herbs round out the palate. Tart raspberry acidity will ensure a few more years of aging.
•Unsi Dulce de Garnacha
This very sweet, late-harvest dessert wine gives seductive wafts of dates and sultana raisins. There’s a complicated process behind all this honeyed richness: one year in barrel, one year in demijohns in the sun, and then several years in a mini solera system (Think:fractional blending, as with Sherry). The grapes were harvested at 17-18º alcohol and the resulting wine weighs in at a heady but welcome 15.5º. A delightful amalgam of a great Catalán ráncio and a sweet Montilla-Moriles (similar to Sherry, but from the D.O. Montilla-Moriles rather than from the D.O. Jerez).
Bodegas Ochoa: dates back to 1370 with the current winery founded in 1845; Olite
Noteworthy: Adriana and Beatriz Ochoa are rooted in a storied past, but have a forward-looking vision for their land that compels them to farm ultra progressively.
Winemaker: Adriana Ochoa
•Oxoa 2023
Apricot, honey and orange, the classic aromas of moscatel, are beguilingly fruity and rich - and then the wine shows up on the palate almost bone dry. Honeysuckle and white flowers tease in this plump, aromatic wine that spends six months each in oak and concrete egg (known for enhancing a wine’s aromatics).
•Labrit Rosado 2024 Garnacha
Although slightly subdued on the nose, the wine is full of presence on the tongue. In this very vineyard where our tasting took place, there are over 200 clones of garnacha ripening at different times. A single harvest ensures balance in the wine as some will be riper and sweeter while others will be greener and more tart. The result is a brilliantly harmonious rosado, with a taut texture and refreshing acidity. This was also one of the few examples of a pressed rosado as opposed to the traditional saignée method.
•Labrit Blanco 2024 Garnacha Blanca
Subtle but lovely aromatics are followed by a beautiful mouthful that bursts with citrus and minerals. Quite lean for a garnacha blanca, the wine has a graceful, dancer-like quality. Hints of tangerine, kumquat, and pear.
•Labrit Tinto Eco Garnacha 2022
Pomegranate, earth, bing cherries, and pansy fill my nose with garnacha glee. Although wine’s color is not dark, it shows up quite concentrated and full-bodied, with firm but agreeable tannins. The three months spent in old oak has softened the wine slightly. All organically grown grapes.
•Ochoa Gran Reserva 2015
A blend of tempranillo, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon, this lovely wine smells of eucalyptus, blood, and fleshy dried cherries and plums. She’s a gloriously aged wine, still full-throated and tannic, with lively acidity and a long finish redolent of cocoa nibs and beef.
•Ochoa Gran Reserva 2005
Smokey beef and ripe red currants on the nose, followed by silky, oaken cherries with notes of thyme, rosemary, and menthol. Balsamic and toast, with black raspberry and red tulip. An excellent example of a Navarran blend, similar to the 2015, and desirable in every way.
•Moscato de Ochoa 2024
A pretty, floral sparkling wine with only 5.5% is possibly the best summer quench there is. This one is nicely effervescent with wonderful snippets of lychee, lemon, and kaffir lime. The added bubbles are trapped in barometric tanks and no CO2 is added. Like a lacy, frilly sundress.
•Moscatel Vendimia Tardia 2024
This late harvest moscatel is intensely aromatic and irresistible, with notes of preserved lemon, bronze, lychee, and orange oil. Another complicated sweet wine! Adriana first makes the wine with October grapes that are somewhat dried on the vine but not yet raisinated. She stops the fermentation at 11% with neutral grape spirits, and then she adds November grapes (late harvest) and leaves it to ferment and further develop for 6-7 months. 15% alcohol and thoroughly delicious.
•Moscatel Vendimia Tardia 2013
Toasty and nutty aromas, ripe with date and figs emerge from this brown elixir. Beautifully mature, sweet, and balanced by a dart of orange acidity.
Bodegas Manzanos: founded in the 13th century as an inn for pilgrims; full-fledged winery in 1864; Campanas, Azagra, and Haro
Noteworthy: One of the oldest wineries in Navarra, and the first to make the rosado wines that would make Navarra famous.
Winemaker: Borja Ripa
•Castillo de Olite Rosado 2025 (tank sample)
A rosé tempranillo of this pink bougainvillea hue is a welcome if unusual vino. I love the way the raspberry and cherry fruit sings out with such enthusiasm. Full of personality and hitting all the high notes with zings of acidity, this rose was made using the saignée method with the addition of the last of the press from the pale pink Las Campanas Rosado, as well as a few months of barrel time. Mostly tempranillo with some garnacha.
•Las Campanas Rosado 2024
Considered an ‘Atlantic’ vintage for its coolness, 2024 delivers wines of a tighter, lighter style. This particular rosé is dry, herbal, and still resolving, but already attractive, with her timid forest strawberry quality and bright acidity. Pale and pretty.
•1864 Castillo de Olite Chardonnay 2024
A fresh and tart (no malo-lactic fermentation) chardonnay with a velvet glove touch of well-integrated oak. Roasted apple and unripe pineapple notes dominate, with lemon and hickory chiming in. A restrained and lovely 12.5% alcohol level, too!
•1864 Castillo de Olite Crianza 2020
A cheerful blend of 90% garnacha and 10% tempranillo, this lush red spent one year in used oak barrels. Its color is dark (4-5 days of a cold soak sets the color) and its personality is fresh. Black cherry, peat, and mulberry notes are flirtatiously tart and the finish is long and enjoyable.
•1864 Castillo de Olite Reserva 2018
This blend of 70% garnacha, 15% tempranillo, and 15% cabernet sauvignon (winemaker Borja Ripa’s father’s grows these grapes nearby in Alberin - the synergy is palpable!) coalesces into a lovely wine with distinct Bordelaise qualities. Blackberry, pencil shavings, and husky tannins reverberate in this perfectly mature, rich wine. Twenty four months in mixed use barrels. A wonderful, typical Navarran blend!
Marqués del Atrio: founded in 1899
Remarkable note: This is a sprawling company with 40 wineries, but still owned and operated by the 5th generation of the founding family.
Winemaker: Rodrigo Espinosa, working with Pablo Ossorio
•Faustino Rivero Ulécia Chardonnay 2024
A soft and pleasing chardonnay with pineapple and lemon notes. Primary, light, and refreshing.
•Doña Isabel Garnacha Blanca 2024
In an old-school bell-shaped bottle, this pale golden wine is an exceptionally light expression of garnacha blanca. Un-oaked and infinitely marriageable and quaffable.
•Doña Isabel Rosado 2024
Pale pink with a hint of orange, this light wine is tinged with herbs. The subtle fruit notes show up in pastels of red currant and wintergreen berry. Elegant.
•Faustino Rivero Ulécia Rosado 2024
The vibrantly-hued side of Navarran rosado is more distinctly garnacha than her lighter counterparts. Wine first, rosé second, she’s more insistent on the palate with her pronounced red fruit and ferrous notes.
•Faustino Rivero Ulécia Garnacha 2024
A dark and fleshy style of garnacha that conjures up images of animated villagers celebrating a saint day in a town square festooned with peppers on strings. Ripe strawberry, juicy black raspberries, and wet stones. Primary and wonderful.
•Doña Isabel Garnacha 2024
A slightly more masculine style of garnacha, this wine spent time in oak, including during its malo-lactic fermentation. Playful tannins and concentrated dark red fruits make a big, lasting splash on the palate.
•Fernando Rivero Ulécia Garnacha Crianza 2021
With a smattering of merlot (8%), this garnacha aged in old American oak is a soft and spicy red with dark cherry and autumn leaf notes that speak of time and tradition in Spain. Quite delicious, and thoroughly energetic and excitable with food!
Aroa: founded in 2010;
Noteworthy: 100% of the energy used at Aroa comes from renewable sources. Their best garnacha grapes come from a vineyard planted in 1920, and it sits at one of the northernmost points in Navarra.
Winemaker: Iñaki Olaberri
•Lakar Le Naturel Garnacha 2020 Ecológico - Organic
A storm of aromatics envelop you as you swirl this onyx-toned wine: ripe and sultry cherry, rich balsamic spices, and an evergreen coolness. Full-bodied and tannic with a complexity that blossoms with perfume and purpose with each minute. Utterly charming and rather mysterious.
•Le Naturel Blanco 2023
•A complex pineapple fragrance emerges, like a roasted pineapple mousse. This no-sulfite garnacha blanca is somewhat weighty on the palate, but then lifted by a lively acidity that smacks of tart cider. Designed for early drinking as it is not stabilized.
•Pet Nat le Naturel
Also garnacha blanca, this naturally petulant wine is leesy and oxidative with lively bubbles. There’s no disgorgement and no sulfites - drink now.
•Le Naturel Tinto 2024
This red garnacha is surprisingly dark, considering it was left on its skins for only 5 days during fermentation. (Ten or twenty would be more common). This short skin-contact lowers the astringency and tannin, making the wine an easy, fragrant quaff. Meant to be drunk within two years as no sulfites are added, the wine is redolent of red fruits and redder flowers, with crushed stone notes. Big bing cherry energy. I love the lack of funk in this natural wine, where baking spices, violets and strawberries run wild. Iñaki explained to me that such a clean natural wine is only possible with the healthiest of grapes with zero botrytis, and the utmost of cleanliness in the winery.
Bodegas del Señorio de Sarría: founded 1953; Puente la Reina;
Remarkable note: Forest surrounds the vineyards, fomenting biodiversity and moderating temperatures. The resulting extra-healthy vineyards support a high percentage of old vines, with low yields and superior taste. Also, all the bottles bear the caption “Camino de Santiago” to situate you completely in their historic place in the world.
Winemaker: Milagros Rodriquez
•Señorio de Sarría Chardonnay 2024
Earthy notes of petrol and marine layer fill my nose, and then the wine proves quite floral in the mouth. Noteworthy lemon acid uplifts. Impressive weight with savory, briny notes. No lees, no oak, many layers, much character. After a few minutes, toasted butter qualities emerge.
•Señorio de Sarría Chardonnay 2025, tank sample
This tank sample was easily recognizable as the same creature as the wonderful 2024. Although turbid and youthfully fresh, it is thoroughly delicious. Slightly more tropical.
•Señorio de Sarría Rosado 2024
This rosado fits into the ‘light’ category in every way. Faint colors and a shy nose belie the intensity on the palate of this blend of garnacha and graciano.
•Viñedo Cinco de Señorio de Sarría, Rosado 2024
Named for its exceptionally fragrant character - think Chanel No.5 - this dark rosado is indeed quite perfumed with rose, green apple, lily of the valley, almond blossom and cherry confiture. Made with the sangrado method, the wine was left on its skin for 12 hours. It’s pleasingly intense on the palate with bright raspberry and blue fruits. Smooth and lactic, with jumpy acidity. 100% garnacha, from a 70 year old vineyard.
•Viñedo Cinco de Señorio de Sarría Rosado 2025, tank sample
Dark and turbid with unsettled youth, this rosado is nonetheless attractive - and highly aromatic! Explosive on the palate, a kaleidoscope of forest berries. See you next year, beautiful!
•Viñedo Uno de Señorio de Sarría Garnacha de Viñas Viejas, 2021
All the garnacha used to be allocated for the rosés, but in 2019 they started making this full-throated tinto. 2021 is the second vintage. On the nose the whiffs are earthy and laden with dark forest berries. Despite the cool vintage, the wine is concentrated and tannic, full-bodied and structured. Quite complex, with blackberry, bark, and juniper on the palate. Nine months in French oak - she’s going to age like a queen.
•Viñedo Uno de Señorio de Sarría Garnacha de Viñas Viejas, 2025, tank sample
Deep red fruits abound, and winemaker Milagros Rodriguez explains that they will slowly morph into black fruits with barrel time. It portends greatness.
•Señorio de Sarría Reserva Especial 2019
The aromatic profile of this dark wine is both serious and beguiling - blackberry, fireplace, pencil lead, toasted cacao bean. On the palate the wine is simply luscious, and glows with gravitas. Layered with perfectly ripened fruit, tannin, cassis, and vanilla, this reserva shows off her 2 years in French and American oak proudly but with class - nothing ostentatious. She’s delicious now, and will be for 15 more years.
At the Denominación de Origen headquarters, we were schooled in Navarra’s rich history, both viticultural and geopolitical, and then plied with seven exemplary wines. Our teacher was the learned and affable Javier Adot, as passionate as he is expert on all things Navarra.
•Castillo Monjardin Chardonnay 2024
Hailing from the sub-zone Tierra de Estella, Castillo Monjardin is a renown and recognizable label delivering here varietally-perfect chardonnay. Citric and green fruits with a lighter hint of stone fruits swarmed my senses. The wine was bright and groovily acidic, with a note of resin and another of snapped twig. Elegant, with notes of fine lees.
•Principe de Viana Chardonnay 2024 Vendimia Seleccionada
From the largest winery in Navarra, located in the Ribera Baja sub-zone, this barrel-fermented chardonnay is varietally spot on, with stone fruits and tropicalia in abundance. The texture is rich, plush, and buttery, and I yearn for a roasted fish. Since 1983 they’ve been turning out lovely, widely distributed wine.
•BeBike 2024 Garnacha Organic 2024
With the catchy nickname “The Monovarietal Route,” BeBike was an entirely new brand for me. It’s pale salmon color and herbal aromatics gave way to an excellent mouthfeel, bright with citric pings and threaded with iodine and lees-y notes. Dry, attractive, and gastronomic. Six hours of skin contact to bleed this ethereal color.
•Alma de Untx 2024 Rosado Garnacha
See Bodegas San Martin
•El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Garnacha Old Vines 2022
I knew this wine even before the label said ‘old vines. ’ Now this quite mature vineyard offers wines of more depth and complexity. Although I would still prefer less oak (6 months in barrel) as it subdues the fruit a bit on the nose, the wine is a bright and true on the palate. Wild strawberry, jasmine, and black currant are poised and powerful.
•Finca La Pared Cuvee Especial 2019 Sonsierra Navarra Hills Vineyards
To balance the warmth and sun of Tierra Estella, winemaker Kepa Sagastizabal selects grapes from a vineyard at high altitude (600 m) where it is considerably cooler. This syrah and graciano blend is smoky, sultry, and blue-fruited. Full-bodied and meaty, spiced with black peppercorns and cheery with cassis, the Cuveé Especial is one of the most expensive wines we tasted on the wine route, at about 150E. Deeply complex, long on the palate, and quite unique.
•Marques de Montecierzo Moscatel de Grano Menudo
An organic sweet wine with exuberant aromatics of lychee, orange blossom sweet tangerine, and jasmine. The sweetness bathes the tongue in golden raisins, honey, and lemon drops. 10.5% alcohol, thanks to a stopped fermentation.
At the wine bar with Javier, we two more wines that were the epitome of cool:
•La Roya Guerinda Baja Montaña, 2023
Made from garnacha gris which is technically not allowed in the D.O. Navarra, this elegant 12 carat gold-colored white was sleek and racy, with notes of melon and a distinct Seville orange acid. Shyly fragrant at first, the wine exploded on the palate with barely ripe peach and papaya notes. Lean overall, but giving enough. exquisitely made wine, redolent of chamomile and thyme.
•La Huella de Aitana 2021 Zen Cuvee Garnacha
A premium rose, in fact, the Best Rosé in Spain, 2024. The classic herbal notes I’ve come to know here greet me, but with gravitas. Incredibly silky texture, with notes of peach skin and fennel pollen. Absolutely beautiful. Eight months in barrel and ten in terra cotta anfora. By Gonzalo Celatayo of Bodegas San Martin. On another day, we drank his La Huracán de Daniela, a provocatively complex and delicious blend of garnacha blanca, chardonnay, viura and sauvignon blanc. As irresistible as it was innovative, the wine was perfectly balanced, and nothing short of flower petal shower in the rain at the edge of a forest.
While dining, I had the pleasure of tasting Amatría 2023, a wine I loved but on which I could not take tasting notes. The same goes for Viña Zorzal Señora de las Alturas 2023 and Viña Zorzal Chardonnay 2024, as well as the 2024 La Huella de Aitana Rosado.
Notes by Deborah Hansen