Navarra -Spain's most versatile wine kingdom

Navarra -Spain's most versatile wine kingdom

Text & Photographs by Gerry Dawes

Immortalized in the Middle Ages in the French poem "Chanson de Roland" - set in the hills above the Pyreneen village of Roncesvalles - and made famous the world over in the 1920s by Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises and again in the 1960s by James A. Michener in Iberia, beautiful, rugged and evocative Navarra is arguably Spain's most versatile wine region. Located in mountainous north-central Spain where it is hemmed to the north by the Pyrenees (and France), to the north/northwest by Basque Country, to the west/southwest by La Rioja and to the east/southeast by Aragón, Navarra enjoys temperate and varied climatic influences that provide a breadth of truly great winemaking potential. Several of its wineries have proven just that: Its first-rate Chardonnays are among the finest in Spain; garnacha-based rosados rank with the best in the world; the finest of Navarra's Bordeaux- and Rioja-style wines (especially from bodegas such as Julián Chivite) stand alongside many of Spain's most distinguished reds; and late harvest Moscatels - Aliaga, Chivite and Ochoa to name three - are counted among the most delicious dessert wines in the country. Navarra even boasts a stunningly good, little-known, old-fashioned vino rancio known as Capricho de Goya that rates in the high 90s on nearly everyone's point scale. Wines have been made here since the Roman occupation, as evidenced in southern Navarra along the Ebro River by the remains of several wineries, such as the one at Funes, that date back more than 2,000 years. In the Middle Ages, Navarra was a sprawling kingdom that included Bordeaux, French Navarre, parts of La Rioja, portions of the Basque Country (mountainous northern Navarra and Pamplona, called Iruña in Basque) and Aragón. The province still reflects its deep historical roots by calling itself, for promotional purposes at least, "El Reyno de Navarra," the Kingdom of Navarra, even though the last Navarrese king was conquered out of existence centuries ago. Officially, Navarra is one of Spain's 17 comunidades, La Comunidad Foral de Navarra, a title that bestows the privilege of retaining many of the province's own unique set of fueros, or rights, some of them dating to when kings did rule. When trying to grasp today's big wine picture, it helps to keep in mind that there are increasingly important distinctions to be made between the wines of the Denominación de Origen (DO) Navarra and the wines of the Comunidad Foral de Navarra, the latter of which now partially encompasses the wines of four official designations: the DOs Navarra and La Rioja (several Navarra wineries in areas contiguous to La Rioja are allowed to use that designation), Vinos de la Tierra (VT) La Ribera de Queiles (Navarra and neighboring Aragón) and the newly recognized DO Pago Señorío de Arinzano (Chivite's spectacular, 316-acre wine estate located in the temperate Tierra de Estella wine region of central Navarra), one of only five such vinos de pago in Spain (the other four are in Castilla-La Mancha). Navarra wine laws were recently changed to allow the creation of this pago and, presumably, others, plus a new Vinos de la Tierra classification (which exists in many other parts of Spain). With these major changes in the wine laws, Fernando Chivite, winemaker for the Chivite family's wines and president and winemaker of the Arinzano operation, says, "Navarra now has an opportunity to demonstrate the quality potential of its geographic conditions and place itself among the top Denominacíones de Origen in Spain; the new wine laws will provide us with a unique chance to put our best foot forward." Among those bodegas that have most convincingly proved the mettle of Navarra's grape vines are Artazu for its exceptional old vines Garnacha; Chivite, which turns out superb wines in all four categories; Guelbenzu for its robust, full-flavored Valle de Queiles reds from southern Navarra and northwestern Aragón; Magaña, which produces exceptional Merlots and Merlot/Cabernet blends; Castillo de Monjardín for its Chardonnay, late harvest Chardonnay and Merlot; Muruzabal, which made a legendary 1995 Chardonnay; Ochoa for its full range of solid, well-made wines; and Ondarre, whose new-wave reds are from the area of Navarra permitted to use the Rioja designation. With so many impressive calling cards to its credit - not to mention the blessings of an Atlantic-influenced climate in the north, a Mediterranean-continental climate in the south and a wide range of microclimates in between - why aren't the wines from the Kingdom of Navarra, with annual estimated industry sales (wine and grapes) of $250 million, enjoying the type of sexy publicity heaped on far less versatile regions such as Ribera del Duero, Priorat and Toro? The reasons are complex and somewhat maddening, but, arguably, the overall potential of this wine-rich region has been blunted by numerous producers who are making wines for perceived market tastes, too many of which were established over the past 10 to 20 years on subsidies from the government of Navarra (along with loans from Navarrese banks) and from the European Union, and on principal money from many investors new to the wine trade. Much of this cash still needs to be repaid, so Navarra is in the midst of an economic epoch that has caused what some are calling a wine crisis. During this period of cash infusions, wine cooperatives, which existed in nearly every wine village in Navarra and generally produced poor to mediocre wines, were either upgraded or converted into privately owned wineries. New wineries, a number of them architectural showcases (including a huge faux castle when Navarra has several real castles!), were built and filled with gleaming stainless steel tanks and the obligatory spanking-new French and American oak 225-liter barricas, which made aging cellars smell like sawmills. These newly minted properties seem to be imitating producers from Australia, Napa Valley, Priorat and the super non-DO Vinos de la Tierra crowd by making wines in a style perceived to be what the market is asking for. The result is far too many overripe fruit bombs lashed with harsh new oak and sporting enough alcohol to fell a Basque wood chopper. Were this not bad enough, in what seems a desperate effort to get noticed and become profitable, many producers are pricing these brutes far, far above their quality levels. Andrés Proensa, publisher of the prestigious bimonthly wine magazine PlanetaVino and the annual Guía Proensa, sums up the situation thusly: "The D.O. Navarra, without a doubt, has the necessary conditions to be a prestigious winemaking region and a good fistful of high-class wines bring their contribution towards that [end]. But, now is not the time for wines asking high prices to get attention, but for wines that don't hurt your pocket and still satisfy your palate." One of the most troublesome things in Navarra's recent viticultural history is that thousands of its old, goblet-pruned garnacho (the Navarrese word for garnacha, the grape that is native to Navarra and Aragón) vines were ripped out and replaced with more highly productive tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon and merlot vines. Garnacha was considered an inferior grape, best for making rosados (which just happen to be some of the best rosés in the world) and, if left to reach higher alcohol levels, for beefing up red wines. Therefore, its lowly status commanded a far lesser price than tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon and merlot - this despite the fact that some of the best wines of Priorat often contain 50 percent garnacha. In the rush to go modern and turn a profit as rapidly as possible, much of this wonderful native garnacha, including many old vines, was sacrificed. Ironically, neighboring Aragón, where a lot of garnacha still exists in old vines plantations, has found huge success in both national and export markets by establishing a strong identity for the grape (it is rumored that a substantial amount of its garnacha finds its way into Navarra wines, too). Putting a positive face on all of this, unlike in many Spanish Mediterranean winegrowing regions, the non-native cabernet sauvignon and merlot (as well as chardonnay) do well in Navarra when yields are kept to reasonable levels (which Chivite, Magaña, Ochoa and others have proved). Strangely enough, given the success of Chardonnays from several producers, pinot noir, the other great Burgundian grape, is not permitted here, though based on what little of it I have tasted (from an outlaw plantation), I suspect it could be promising. In addition to the usually insipid native viura (the white grape officially "preferred" by the Navarra DO's regulatory council), chardonnay, garnacha blanca, malvasia and moscatel de grano menudo (small berry moscatel) are merely "authorized." Improbably, among the red grapes, the native tempranillo and graciano, along with cabernet sauvignon, are the "preferred" grapes, while the excellent native garnacha tinto, merlot (also sometimes excellent here) and mazuelo (carignane) are also just "authorized" by the Navarra DO. The vines of the Navarra DO comprise more than 46,500 acres and are spread over five different subzones: Baja Montaña (northeastern Navarra); Ribera Alta (around the marvelous medieval castle village of Olite); Ribera Baja (more or less paralleling La Rioja Baja on the northeastern side of the Ebro River); Tierra Estella (in middle western Navarra, around the historic town of Estella and other key pilgrimage stops on the Camino de Santiago); and Valdizarbe (the smallest of the five, but a promising, temperate wine area that extends mostly southwest from Pamplona, the capital). Some dozen wineries around such towns as Viana, Mendavia, Andosilla and Azagra north of the Ebro River in western Navarra are allowed to be classified as DO Rioja and are considered Rioja Baja wines. Several wineries of note, including Barón de Ley, Bagordi, Finca Manzanos, Ondarre and Rioja Vega, are located here. In the VT Ribera del Queiles, in southern Navarra bordering Aragón, is Guelbenzu, which is based in Cascante and makes wines that have received international acclaim. Though the name Navarra on a bottle is no more a true quality guarantee than any place name, no matter how lofty, the best producers are making some truly satisfying, very well-made wines here. Many possess attributes that most wines from regions such as Priorat, Ribera del Duero, Toro and Jumilla simply don't have (although there is an alarming tendency among copycat wineries in Navarra to produce high-priced, high-alcohol, monster modernista wines similar to the aforementioned). Sonia Olana, who with her husband, Victor del Villar, owns Castillo de Monjardín, believes that the "aureole of [such] ultraexpensive, 'sexy' wines has more to do with a bodega's small production than the quality of the wine." The top Navarra bodegas keep alcohol levels in check (under 14 percent, often lower), temper their use of new oak and don't traffic in overripe fruit. The resulting wines are well balanced with good acid levels, fruity, not jammy and finish with a clarity and length on the palate that has been associated with good Rioja, cru classé Bordeaux and the finest California Cabs (at least up until the late 1990s when many wineries dialed up richness, alcohol and fruit). Olana notes that "Navarra's terruño historically has been recognized; now [modern] techniques and the enthusiastic desire of new enologists are creating magic in our new wines." Bodegas Julián Chivite is the undisputed leader among Navarra wineries taking a measured approach to winemaking. Its family winemaking history - "de padres a hijos desde 1647" - can be traced from fathers to sons and daughters (the late Mercedes Chivite was a key member of the family team) from 1647. The Chivites, led today by Fernando, the internationally recognized winemaker, and administrators Julián and Carlos, are among Spain's most elite wine families in the same league with esteemed names such as Raventos of Codorníu, Ferrer of Frexienet and Torres (Catalunya); López de Heredia, the Marqués de Riscal family and Muga (La Rioja); and Gonzalez Byass and Hidalgo (Jerez). There are no wines emanating from the Chivite bodegas in Cintruénigo and the Señorío de Arinzano estate (or the Viña Salceda winery in La Rioja Alavesa) that are not top drawer. Even Chivite's price-to-quality ratio Gran Feudo series excels with an unoaked Chardonnay, Spain's most popular Garnacha Rosado, a delicious Tinto de Crianza (tempranillo, garnacha, cabernet sauvignon), a Reserva Tinto (tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon and merlot), Viñas Viejas (a blend of tempranillo, garnacha, merlot and cabernet) and a Moscatel Dulce (sweet muscatel) - all benchmarks for consumer-friendly wines. Chivite's stellar Colección 125 series - which commemorates the bodega's 125th anniversary - includes a barrel-fermented Chardonnay that is consistently among Spain's top whites; a spectacular barrel-fermented rosado made with six red varieties; a Bordeaux-esque Tempranillo/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot Reserva; and a Vendimia Tardia (late harvest) Moscatel. Although some of these critically praised wines reach the United States, much of Colección 125 is snapped up by Spain's top restaurants. More aristocratic is Chivite's Señorío de Arinzano Pago wines, which are made only in very good to great harvests. Several vintages are currently aging in bottle at the winery, the first three of which - 2000, 2001, 2002 - are poised for release. Just over 1,600 cases of each were made. While Chivite reigns as the undisputed monarch of the Reyno de Navarra's wine kingdom, several other wineries form a very honorable color guard; they include Alzania, Nekeas and Señorío de Sarría, as well as the aforementioned Artazu, Guelbenzu, Magaña, Monjardín, Ochoa, Viña Aliaga and Ondarre. Of them, the Ochoa family has been making wine in the fairy tale castle village of Olite for 600 years. Javier Ochoa, the architect of the 1980's modernization of the Navarra wine industry, currently heads the winery. Ochoa, whose grapes are all grown on 350 acres of estate vineyards, pioneered some of the first plantings of foreign varieties, such as cabernet sauvignon and merlot, here in the 1970s and 1980s. Ironically, he also revived interest in the ancient moscatel de grano menudo vines that grew in Navarra for centuries. Eschewing the traditional cloying, sometimes Sherry-like style (the aforementioned Capricho de Goya is nevertheless a prime example), Ochoa began crafting fresh, lively Vinos Dulces de Moscatel that he (and Chivite) refined into an art form, earning him kudos from top Spanish and international wine critics. Ochoa's bread-and-butter, however, is a line of vinos tintos - a competently made, rather middling set of monovarietals, including a Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, along with an expensive Vendimia Seleccionada 50/50 cabernet/merlot blend aged for one year in Allier oak. Ochoa's 2001 Reserva, another tempranillo/cabernet/merlot blend, weighs in at 14 percent and is so tarry it could almost pass for a wine from Toro. Like most bodegas in Navarra, Ochoa also makes rosado; his 100 percent garnacha version (traditionally the best here) is a fine example of the category; a Rosado de Lágrima (made only from free-run juice) is a more novel 50/50 blend of garnacha and cabernet sauvignon. Located in the Tierra de Estella subregion 30 miles northwest of Olite, along the Camino de Santiago in the pretty, castle-crowned village of Villamayor de Monjardín, is the showcase Castillo de Monjardin winery. The bodega is housed in a striking, 19th-century-esque, twin-towered, monastery-like building tastefully constructed of stone, old brick and wood. Its well-regarded, on-site restaurant serves innovative, region-inspired cuisine. Founded in 1988 by Victor del Villar and his wife, Sonia Olano, Castillo de Monjardin focuses on foreign varieties - chardonnay, merlot and cabernet sauvignon - planted on 370 acres of vineyards sited nearly 2,000 feet above sea level and periodically cooled by the strong, Mistral-like Cierzo winds that blow from the north. The line features a lovely, inexpensive, refreshingly unoaked El Cerezo Chardonnay; a barrel-fermented Chardonnay that is not over the top; and the unusual Esencia de Monjardín Reserva, a sweet, late harvest Chardonnay that spends four months in barrel. Monjardín's equally unusual and delicious rosado is 100 percent merlot - there is such demand for it that 15,000 cases are produced. The sound, well-made tintos include a Cabernet-Merlot Reserva, a Cabernet-Tempranillo Reserva, a 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva and Deyo, a 100 percent merlot. Since the 1970s, merlot has been a mainstay at Viña Magaña in Barillas, a village a few miles outside the historic southern Navarra city of Tudela. The ever-restless owner, Juan Magaña, makes some of Spain's greatest Merlots and Merlot-Cabernet blends from vines that were smuggled into Spain in the waning years of the Franco era. In fact, Magaña also ran his own nursery and supplied many of the top wineries in Spain with merlot and cabernet sauvignon vines during the 1970s and 1980s, when these foreign varieties became the rage. Magaña's notable roster includes Dignus, a tempranillo-cabernet-merlot blend; Barón de Magaña, 70 percent merlot with the balance cabernet sauvignon and tempranillo; an excellent 100 percent Merlot; a merlot-laced Reserva; a superb 70 percent merlot Gran Reserva that could pass for a top Saint-Émilion; and Calchetas, for which Magaña will not divulge the grape makeup (an educated guess points to merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and probably syrah and malbec), a big (14.5 percent), extracted wine that will satisfy the power-palate aficionado. Technically a cooperative, but with a difference - its members are eight families from the same village with their own vineyards - at Nekeas, longtime winemaker Concha Vecino makes a range of well-balanced, relatively inexpensive wines from native varieties (viura, tempranillo and garnacha), along with chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. The finished wines include an inexpensive Nekeas Vega Sindoa Viura-Chardonnay, a crianza blend of Cabernet-Tempranillo, a Merlot crianza, a Cabernet-Merlot Reserva and the star of the line, El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa, made from 100 percent old vines garnacha aged six months in oak. Old vines garnacha is the central theme at Artazu, located in the cooler Valdizarbe growing region near Puente de la Reina, whose arched, medieval bridge is one of the major landmarks on the Camino de Santiago. This relatively new project is headed by Juan Carlos López de la Calle of Rioja's Artadi, who makes a much sought after Artazuri Rosado in stainless steel; a Garnacha tinto (from 60- to 80-year-old vines) that sees no oak; and a top-of-the-line Santa Cruz de Artazu Garnacha (from century-old vines) that is aged in large oak demi-muids (600-800 liters) for a year. For garnacha rosado fanciers, Señorío de Sarría's superb Señorío de Sarría Viñedo #5 Garnacha rosado, from a 50-year-old, high-altitude garnacha vineyard on its storybook estate near Puente de la Reina, is one of Spain's greatest renditions. Sarría also produces a lineup of competently made wines from tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay, along with a red called Viñedo Sotes (with the preceding three red varieties, plus natives mazuelo, graciano and garnacha) and good late harvest moscatel. Drawing on fruit from vineyards located alongside Navarra's Bardenas Reales (a desert nature park), Azul y Garanza makes its wines in a partially underground winery that still employs epoxy-lined concrete tanks - something a number of wineries are going back to using - dating to the period between 1940 and 1960. Its Rosa de Azul y Garanza garnacha-tempranillo rosado and a tinto blend of 80 percent tempranillo tinto, laced with 20 percent cabernet sauvignon have garnered favorable attention. Viña Aliaga, a family-owned, vineyard-driven winery in southern Navarra, makes an excellent Garnacha Rosado and Moscatel Dulce, along with several promising red wines made from garnacha (including the superb, delectable 90 percent garnacha, 10 percent cabernet sauvignon Antonio Corpus red), several blends enlisting tempranillo and cabernet sauvignon, and one of the finest Gracianos in the region. Vinícola Navarra, a.k.a. Las Campanas, beloved by Ernest Hemingway and generations of devotees of Pamplona's Fiestas de San Fermín, makes delicious Garnacha rosados (Las Campanas and the first-rate Castillo de Javier) and two serviceable tintos. It now belongs to the mega-group, Domecq Bodegas, which has acquired numerous Spanish wineries (including Palacio de la Vega, another Navarra producer) and bottles more wine than any entity in Spain. In far southern Navarra, Guelbenzu, a family winery dating to 1851, lobbied several years ago for the formation of the Vinos de la Tierra la Ribera del Queiles (from the Queiles River Valley), which straddles the Navarra-Aragón border and withdrew from the Navarra DO. The subsequent approval of VT status gave Guelbenzu the advantage of sourcing grapes from both provinces within this unique microclimate. Bearing its distinctive triangle-within-a-circle label design, Guelbenzu's wines from the Navarra vineyards include Azul, a tempranillo-merlot-cabernet-blend; EVO, which features each harvest's finest cabernet sauvignon; and Lautus, the winery's top, age-worthy wine, which comprises a similar blend as Azul, but with the specially selected grapes and the addition of garnacha. Mayor de Ondarre, Barón de Ley and Rioja Vega are the standard bearers for the legally designated Rioja-producing section of Navarra, generally producing wines that are more in the meaty, robust, but still well-balanced, style normally associated with the wines of La Rioja Baja. Navarra's expansive palette of wines offers some excellent, often reasonably priced, drinking in every hue. By focusing on the recommended producers, there is also the assurance of welcome relief from overblown, palate-assaulting wines too often encountered these days. Happily, as winemakers and consumers wake up from the excesses of the past, terroir is regaining pride of place, in Spain and elsewhere. Navarra's temperate, climate-driven versatility is so well suited to producing flavorful, modern wines with balance and restraint, that wine lovers may soon find themselves exclaiming, "Viva Navarra!" Contributing Editor Gerry Dawes has been traveling Spain's wine roads for more than 30 years; in 2003, he was awarded the Marqués de Busianos Spanish National Gastronomy Prize.
Origin information: The Wine News Magazine