Navarra

Garnacha rosado: Navarra's historic pink - dry, fruity and made for food.

Navarra was once known mainly for rosado. Today's versions are pale to bright pink, dry and fruit-forward, with strawberry and red berry flavours and a clean, fresh finish. Drink it young and chilled, as an aperitif or with tapas.

Navarra was once known mainly for rosado. Today's versions are pale to bright pink, dry and fruit-forward, with strawberry and red berry flavours and a clean, fresh finish. Drink it young and chilled, as an aperitif or with tapas.

Garnacha: Navarra's heritage grape - fresh pink, and silky hill reds.

Once nearly every vine, Garnacha is the soul of Navarra. It makes the classic dry rosado, and from old vines in cooler hills a floral, herbal, lifted red. Warm-site versions are riper and rounder.

Once nearly every vine, Garnacha is the soul of Navarra. It makes the classic dry rosado, and from old vines in cooler hills a floral, herbal, lifted red. Warm-site versions are riper and rounder.

Pochas and Ribera asparagus with a chilled Garnacha rosado.

Two local classics: pochas, stewed fresh white beans, and the asparagus of the Ribera. Dry, fruity rosado is the traditional partner.

Two local classics: pochas, stewed fresh white beans, and the asparagus of the Ribera. Dry, fruity rosado is the traditional partner.

Ribera Alta, around Olite: Tempranillo reds and Reservas, plus rosado.

The sub-zone around Olite is Navarra's red-wine heart. Tempranillo leads, blended with Garnacha, Graciano or Cabernet, and the better houses make Reservas that echo Rioja at gentler prices. Garnacha here is riper and often becomes rosado.

The sub-zone around Olite is Navarra's red-wine heart. Tempranillo leads, blended with Garnacha, Graciano or Cabernet, and the better houses make Reservas that echo Rioja at gentler prices. Garnacha here is riper and often becomes rosado.

Local find: Chivite's late-harvest wine or old Moscatel.

A small-production sweet wine few people at home have tried; a good gift bottle.

A small-production sweet wine few people at home have tried; a good gift bottle.

Valdizarbe and Tierra Estella: the cooler Camino belt, fresher reds and Garnacha.

The northern sub-zones along the pilgrim road are cooler and higher. Garnacha here is fresh and violet-scented in Valdizarbe and spicy and herbal in Tierra Estella, with good acidity. Chardonnay and light reds also do well.

The northern sub-zones along the pilgrim road are cooler and higher. Garnacha here is fresh and violet-scented in Valdizarbe and spicy and herbal in Tierra Estella, with good acidity. Chardonnay and light reds also do well.

Old bush-vine Garnacha on limestone hills keeps its freshness.

The best Garnacha comes from very old vines on limestone and clay at several hundred metres, around villages like San Martín de Unx. Altitude cools the nights, so the wine stays aromatic and lifted rather than jammy, with herb and wild-berry notes.

The best Garnacha comes from very old vines on limestone and clay at several hundred metres, around villages like San Martín de Unx. Altitude cools the nights, so the wine stays aromatic and lifted rather than jammy, with herb and wild-berry notes.

Ochoa: Olite-area family house; Reservas and Gran Reservas are the draw.

A family winery in its sixth generation, with red, rosado, white, sweet and sparkling wines. Its older Reservas drink like a good Rioja.

A family winery in its sixth generation, with red, rosado, white, sweet and sparkling wines. Its older Reservas drink like a good Rioja.

Hill-grown Garnacha reds: wild herbs, red fruit and softness from old vines.

Old-vine Garnacha from Baja Montaña and other cooler sites is Navarra's most exciting red. Expect red berries, wild herbs and floral lift with soft tannin.

Old-vine Garnacha from Baja Montaña and other cooler sites is Navarra's most exciting red. Expect red berries, wild herbs and floral lift with soft tannin.

Reservas age in oak and bottle: Rioja-like softness at gentler prices.

Houses such as Ochoa age Tempranillo-based reds in oak and bottle before release, producing leather, spice and dried-fruit notes.

Houses such as Ochoa age Tempranillo-based reds in oak and bottle before release, producing leather, spice and dried-fruit notes.

Celebration: old-vine Garnacha from Lupier or Chivite's Colección 125 red.

Small production and not easy to find abroad. El Terroir is the darker, earthier choice; La Dama is more perfumed.

Small production and not easy to find abroad. El Terroir is the darker, earthier choice; La Dama is more perfumed.

Celayeta El Duende: a small-grower Garnacha from the Baja Montaña hills.

A single-grower Garnacha listed among the area's characterful bottlings, from the cooler hill country near the Pyrenees.

A single-grower Garnacha listed among the area's characterful bottlings, from the cooler hill country near the Pyrenees.

Graciano: tiny-volume, high-acid red - Navarra's rare solo star.

A late-ripening grape normally used as a seasoning in blends. A few Navarra growers bottle it alone, giving blackberry, dried herbs, firm acidity and a long finish.

A late-ripening grape normally used as a seasoning in blends. A few Navarra growers bottle it alone, giving blackberry, dried herbs, firm acidity and a long finish.

Garnacha tastes different in each sub-zone: herb, violet, spice or ripe berry.

Navarra's Garnacha changes character from hill to plain. High Baja Montaña is herbal and scrubland-scented, Valdizarbe fresher with violet, Tierra Estella spicy with fine tannin, and the warm south riper and rustic.

Navarra's Garnacha is best read by sub-zone. In Baja Montaña, where Garnacha is the leading grape and vineyards climb from lower slopes to several hundred metres, wines show Mediterranean scrubland, herbs and sometimes citrus; San Martín de Unx is the old-vine heartland. Valdizarbe, cooler and fresher, gives blueberry and violet aromas. Tierra Estella, on the pilgrim road, is spicier and herbal with fine tannins and good acidity, and some plots sit high on chalky soils. Further south, Ribera Alta Garnacha is riper, darker and earthier, mostly turning into rosado, and in Ribera Baja co-operatives make mostly rosado and rustic reds. Villages that matter for Garnacha include Cintruénigo, San Martín de Unx, Olite, Corella and Aibar. For tasting, pick two bottles from different sub-zones side by side; the contrast is the lesson.

Nekeas: former co-op; Cepa por Cepa and El Chaparral are old-vine Garnacha values.

A Valdizarbe producer that began as a co-operative and now bottles lively, affordable Garnacha, including a light old-vine red from high vineyards.

Nekeas, in Valdizarbe, started life as a co-operative and has become one of the region's most dependable sources of Garnacha at fair prices. Cepa por Cepa, the name meaning vine by vine, comes from the area's cooler, higher sites and is a bright, fresh red that shows what northern Garnacha tastes like when it is not over-ripened or heavily oaked. El Chaparral is a step up: light in body, from old vines at altitude, with plum and cherry fruit and a herbal, orange-peel lift. Neither wine is trying to be powerful, and that is the point; they are food reds, easy with roast lamb, pochas or tapas. If you want to understand Navarra Garnacha without paying for a cult label, start here, then compare with a Baja Montaña wine from Lupier.

Domaines Lupier: El Terroir and La Dama, the reference old-vine Garnacha.

A couple's project reviving abandoned bush vines near San Martín de Unx. Two wines: earthier El Terroir, more lifted La Dama.

Domaines Lupier began in 2006, when Elisa Úcar and Enrique Basarte left careers in the wine trade to rescue old bush vines others had abandoned. Their vines, around San Martín de Unx in Baja Montaña, average about 80 years, the oldest planted in 1903, and sit on limestone at several hundred metres, where nights stay cool. They farm organically and biodynamically with minimal intervention. The two wines show different sides of the place. El Terroir is pure Garnacha from several parcels, fermented with native yeasts and aged in large neutral French oak; it is the darker, earthier and more tannic of the pair. La Dama comes from a high clay-limestone site and is more lifted and perfumed. Both smell of wild herbs and scrub over a deep fruit core, and soften beautifully with a few years in bottle. Production is small, so buy when you see it.

Estate and Bordeaux-style reds: Cabernet, Merlot and Tempranillo with polish.

Navarra's international side: structured blends from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo, led by estate wines such as Arínzano and Otazu. Cedar, tobacco and dark fruit, often fruitier and softer than a traditional Rioja Reserva.

Alongside Garnacha, Navarra has a serious red-wine tradition built on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tempranillo, planted when quality-minded growers turned away from bulk rosado in the 1980s. The best examples come from estates with their own character. Chivite's Finca de Arínzano, a Vino de Pago, makes the Arínzano flagship. Otazu's Altar, a Cabernet-led blend, shows truffle, leather, cedar and black fruit in a style closer to claret than Rioja, and is made in tiny quantities. Príncipe de Viana's top blend, mostly Merlot with Tempranillo and Cabernet, is riper and sweeter-toned, with vanilla and toast. These are wines for people who prefer structure, oak and polish to the lighter Garnacha, and they pair with roast lamb and cured meats. They also age: a decade in bottle suits the best.

Chivite Arínzano and Colección 125 Gran Vino Tinto: the family's flagships.

Chivite is Navarra's leading family estate, winegrowers since 1647. Its top reds, Arínzano and Colección 125, are sold without the DO Navarra name.

Chivite has made wine for generations; the family says it has been winegrowing since 1647. The business is based at Villatuerte near Estella and now has distinct tiers. Las Fincas, with a white and a rosado, is the easy entry. Gran Feudo is the mid-priced DO Navarra range. Finca Legardeta gives a red and a Chardonnay from home vineyards. At the top, Colección 125 includes a red, a white, a rosado, a late-harvest wine and a very old, long-aged Moscatel. The Finca de Arínzano estate, a Vino de Pago, produces the Arínzano flagship. A set of single-vineyard Garnachas, among them Paraje Guezari and La Zorrera, shows how good Navarra Garnacha can be. Because the top bottles drop the regional name, ask for them by producer. The house is a one-stop way to taste the whole of Navarra, from cheap rosado to cellar-worthy red.

Garnacha tastes different in each sub-zone: herb, violet, spice or ripe berry.

Navarra's Garnacha changes character from hill to plain. High Baja Montaña is herbal and scrubland-scented, Valdizarbe fresher with violet, Tierra Estella spicy with fine tannin, and the warm south riper and rustic.

Navarra's Garnacha is best read by sub-zone. In Baja Montaña, where Garnacha is the leading grape and vineyards climb from lower slopes to several hundred metres, wines show Mediterranean scrubland, herbs and sometimes citrus; San Martín de Unx is the old-vine heartland. Valdizarbe, cooler and fresher, gives blueberry and violet aromas. Tierra Estella, on the pilgrim road, is spicier and herbal with fine tannins and good acidity, and some plots sit high on chalky soils. Further south, Ribera Alta Garnacha is riper, darker and earthier, mostly turning into rosado, and in Ribera Baja co-operatives make mostly rosado and rustic reds. Villages that matter for Garnacha include Cintruénigo, San Martín de Unx, Olite, Corella and Aibar. For tasting, pick two bottles from different sub-zones side by side; the contrast is the lesson.

Domaines Lupier: El Terroir and La Dama, the reference old-vine Garnacha.

A couple's project reviving abandoned bush vines near San Martín de Unx. Two wines: earthier El Terroir, more lifted La Dama.

Domaines Lupier began in 2006, when Elisa Úcar and Enrique Basarte left careers in the wine trade to rescue old bush vines others had abandoned. Their vines, around San Martín de Unx in Baja Montaña, average about 80 years, the oldest planted in 1903, and sit on limestone at several hundred metres, where nights stay cool. They farm organically and biodynamically with minimal intervention. The two wines show different sides of the place. El Terroir is pure Garnacha from several parcels, fermented with native yeasts and aged in large neutral French oak; it is the darker, earthier and more tannic of the pair. La Dama comes from a high clay-limestone site and is more lifted and perfumed. Both smell of wild herbs and scrub over a deep fruit core, and soften beautifully with a few years in bottle. Production is small, so buy when you see it.

Cool hills in the north, warm plain in the south: three climates in one region.

Atlantic, continental and Mediterranean influences meet here. The northern foothills of the Pyrenees are cooler and wetter, the centre is dry and continental, and the south is hot and sandy. That spread lets Navarra make fresh whites, light Garnacha, structured reds and pink wines.

Atlantic, continental and Mediterranean influences meet here. The northern foothills of the Pyrenees are cooler and wetter, the centre is dry and continental, and the south is hot and sandy. That spread lets Navarra make fresh whites, light Garnacha, structured reds and pink wines.

In the glass: Fresher, more aromatic wines in the north; riper and rounder in the south

Old bush-vine Garnacha on limestone hills keeps its freshness.

The best Garnacha comes from very old vines on limestone and clay at several hundred metres, around villages like San Martín de Unx. Altitude cools the nights, so the wine stays aromatic and lifted rather than jammy, with herb and wild-berry notes.

The best Garnacha comes from very old vines on limestone and clay at several hundred metres, around villages like San Martín de Unx. Altitude cools the nights, so the wine stays aromatic and lifted rather than jammy, with herb and wild-berry notes.

In the glass: Wild herbs, red berries and soft tannin with real freshness

Navarra swapped its pink-wine past for Tempranillo and Bordeaux grapes in the 1980s.

Garnacha once filled almost every vineyard, mostly for rosado. Since the 1980s Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot took over much of the red wine, so some Navarra reds taste closer to Bordeaux than to Rioja.

Until the early 1980s roughly nine in ten Navarra vines were Garnacha, mainly feeding the region's famous rosado. A state research laboratory then pushed the case for serious red blends, and growers added Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and later Syrah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Tempranillo now leads the plantings with Garnacha second, and most Garnacha is made into red wine rather than pink. The stylistic result is a split personality. Estate reds built on Cabernet and Merlot, such as Otazu's Altar or Inurrieta's Cuatrocientos, taste claret-like, with cedar, tobacco and dark fruit, and are often fruitier and sweeter-toned than a typical Rioja Reserva. At the same time, a younger generation is restoring old Garnacha. Knowing this helps you pick: choose the international-style reds for structure and the Garnacha for the real local voice.

In the glass: Claret-style structured reds beside lighter, fresher Garnacha

Garnacha tastes different in each sub-zone: herb, violet, spice or ripe berry.

Navarra's Garnacha changes character from hill to plain. High Baja Montaña is herbal and scrubland-scented, Valdizarbe fresher with violet, Tierra Estella spicy with fine tannin, and the warm south riper and rustic.

Navarra's Garnacha is best read by sub-zone. In Baja Montaña, where Garnacha is the leading grape and vineyards climb from lower slopes to several hundred metres, wines show Mediterranean scrubland, herbs and sometimes citrus; San Martín de Unx is the old-vine heartland. Valdizarbe, cooler and fresher, gives blueberry and violet aromas. Tierra Estella, on the pilgrim road, is spicier and herbal with fine tannins and good acidity, and some plots sit high on chalky soils. Further south, Ribera Alta Garnacha is riper, darker and earthier, mostly turning into rosado, and in Ribera Baja co-operatives make mostly rosado and rustic reds. Villages that matter for Garnacha include Cintruénigo, San Martín de Unx, Olite, Corella and Aibar. For tasting, pick two bottles from different sub-zones side by side; the contrast is the lesson.

In the glass: From wild-herb and violet in the hills to ripe, earthy and rustic in the south

Rosado is pressed gently off the skins for pale colour and fresh fruit.

Garnacha grapes spend only a short time with their skins, giving a pale to bright pink, dry wine with strawberry fruit. It is usually fermented cool in steel and bottled young.

Garnacha grapes spend only a short time with their skins, giving a pale to bright pink, dry wine with strawberry fruit. It is usually fermented cool in steel and bottled young.

In the glass: Fresh red-berry fruit, dry, no oak

Organic and biodynamic farming of old bush vines is the quality edge.

Growers such as Lupier and Máximo Abete farm organically, with low yields from old vines. Expect more concentration, freshness and a wild-herb character.

Growers such as Lupier and Máximo Abete farm organically, with low yields from old vines. Expect more concentration, freshness and a wild-herb character.

In the glass: Concentrated, herbal, lifted wines

Large, neutral oak lets old-vine Garnacha show fruit and place.

Top Garnacha is often aged in big, old French barrels rather than small new ones, so the wine gains texture without vanilla or toast.

Top Garnacha is often aged in big, old French barrels rather than small new ones, so the wine gains texture without vanilla or toast.

In the glass: Silky texture, fruit and herbs in front

Reservas age in oak and bottle: Rioja-like softness at gentler prices.

Houses such as Ochoa age Tempranillo-based reds in oak and bottle before release, producing leather, spice and dried-fruit notes.

Houses such as Ochoa age Tempranillo-based reds in oak and bottle before release, producing leather, spice and dried-fruit notes.

In the glass: Leather, spice, dried cherry, softer tannin