Region: Navarra, Spain

Varietal: 100% Garnacha (Grenache)

Tasting Notes: Lifted, peppery nose with red fruit. Strawberries, red cherries and plenty of white pepper and peppercorn funk. Juicy and pretty intense on the medium-bodied palate with tight, dusty tannins and a long, tangy finish. Quite elegant and spicy.

Producer: Bodegas Nekeas is one of Navarra’s most important champions of old-vine Garnacha, rooted in a region with centuries of winemaking tradition. Nestled in the Nekeas Valley near the village of Añorbe—along the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route—the winery is a cooperative effort by local families who came together in the 1990s to rescue historic vineyards from abandonment. While Navarra was once overshadowed by neighboring Rioja, estates like Nekeas have helped shift the spotlight, proving that Garnacha from this region can rival Spain’s finest. The ‘El Chaparral’ bottling is a testament to this revival, crafted entirely from some of the oldest Garnacha vines in the region—many over 70 years old.

Vineyard & Winemaking: The 2021 vintage was marked by a cooler growing season compared to the heat of 2022, offering wines with greater freshness and aromatic clarity. The vineyards, located at elevations approaching 2,000 feet, benefit from significant diurnal swings and poor, rocky soils that stress the vines just enough to yield fruit of exceptional depth. These goblet-trained, dry-farmed vines are painstakingly tended by hand. In the cellar, fermentation occurs in a combination of stainless steel and neutral French oak, with gentle maceration to extract nuance over power. Aging in mostly used barrels allows the wine to develop its silky texture and savory complexity while preserving Garnacha’s vibrant fruit profile.