El Chaparral de Vega Garnacha Sindoa 2022
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The Land
Valdizarbe is the northernmost pocket of Navarra, a valley southwest of Pamplona that has grown wine since at least the 1400s, long before Rioja became Spain's default answer for red wine. El Chaparral comes from Nekeas's oldest Garnacha plots, forty separate parcels of goblet-trained vines planted between 1890 and 1960, some as old as 115 years. They sit around 400 meters on marl and sandstone soils rich in carbonates, in a continental-Mediterranean climate where hot days, cool nights, and Atlantic breezes push full ripening without burning off freshness. This is Garnacha built on altitude and old wood, not heat and yield.
The Wine
100% Garnacha from vines that never got pulled out when the rest of Navarra modernized. The wine leans toward cherry, white chocolate, and violet on the nose, with raspberry, pomegranate, licorice, and aniseed carrying through the palate. The Atlantic influence keeps the wine from tipping into the jammy, high-alcohol style Garnacha can fall into further south and inland; instead it holds real freshness and structure alongside its ripeness.
The People
Bodegas Nekeas was founded in 1990 when eight local families, brought together by Francisco San Martin, decided to replant 160 hectares in Valdizarbe and revive a winemaking tradition that had nearly disappeared under 20th-century industrialization and depressed grape prices. Rather than pulling the valley's oldest Garnacha vines, as many neighboring growers had, the founding families kept them and built El Chaparral around them. Three decades on, the same families remain involved, and Nekeas has become one of Navarra's clearest arguments for what old-vine Garnacha can do outside of Priorat or Aragon.
Food Pairing
El Chaparral's bright red fruit and moderate weight make it a strong match for grilled lamb chops with rosemary, a hearty lentil stew with chorizo, roasted red peppers stuffed with rice, or a plate of manchego and marcona almonds.
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Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Grenache is a widely planted grape variety that thrives in its Mediterranean home. In Spain, it's known as Garnacha, where it reaches its peak in the Sierra de Gredos as a pure varietal wine, while also being a key blending component in Rioja. France's Southern Rhône, notably Châteauneuf-du-Pape, is another well-known region, where Grenache is often the base of a blended wine. Grenache also finds a home in Sardinia as Cannonau, and it has spread beyond its Mediterranean origins, most famously to Australia's Barossa Valley. The resulting wines are typically light in color, yet they possess a full body and flavor, displaying mature red fruit notes, herbal spices, and often a hint of orange peel, along with soft tannins and moderate acidity. It is an incredibly versatile grape, showing different expressions based on its terroir and the winemaking style employed.
