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Tasting & Touring in Navarra
By Gerry Dawes
(Also see The Ancient Kingdom of Navarra) |
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The winery profiles and tasting notes that follow have been culled from my travel experiences in Navarra over the past two years. In some instances, grape percentages and prices are not included because the information was not made available by the winery. | ||
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Bodegas Guelbenzu San Juan 14, 31420 Cascante Phone: (948) 85.00.55; fax: (948) 95.00.97
Guelbenzu is an old, family bodega founded in the mid-1800s, which recently revived itself as a modern Euro-técnica operation. One of the best of the new-wave wineries, Guelbenzu, like several other bodegas, still has a long way to go in taming oak and making the wines truly delicious and food-friendly.
Tasted at the winery in May 1997:
1995 Tinto Joven (spent 12 months in oak, but not the time required in bottle by the Navarra DO, so it is not classified as a crianza; 50% cabernet sauvignon/30% tempranillo/20% merlot) – $10: Dark garnet hue; big tears. Tight, vegetal, bell pepper nose. Very rich, intense, dark chocolate flavors, but a little vegetal in the finish. Score: 86
1994 Crianza – $10: Deep garnet hue. Plum and bell pepper nose. Rich, ripe, highly extracted, round, dark chocolate flavors with a touch of orange and firm fruit tannins, but no complexity. Score: 85
1995 EVO (60% cabernet sauvignon/24% tempranillo/ 16% merlot; aged 12 months in large Allier vats) – $19: Opaque ruby hue. Cigar box, cedar and sawdust aromas. Rich, concentrated ripe fruit with tannic, peppery, syrah-like flavors and a tannic finish. Score: 87
1994 EVO (60% cabernet sauvignon/24% tempranillo/ 16% merlot; aged in Allier, Nevers and Limousin oak) – $19: Medium garnet hue. Closed, but nice hints of French oak. Loads of very rich, ripe, California-esque fruit; fairly balanced and elegant, even though wood tannins cut the fruit short in the finish. Comes off more like a Merlot with backbone. Score: 89
Compañia de Vino de la Granja
Made by Telmo Rodríguez, the young lion of Rioja's Remelluri, this wine is 100 percent garnacha, is fermented in stainless steel and spends no time in wood. When Rodríguez saw what was happening with the very difficult 1997 harvest in Navarra, he purchased all the remaining stocks of 1996 garnacha left in the cooperative where this wine is made.
Tasted at Remelluri in March 1997 and in the U.S. in April 1997:
1996 Alma Garnacha (100% selected 40-year-old garnacha vines) – $8: Dark garnet hue. Sweet, black cherry nose. Very rich and delicious with sweet, red fruit (cherry and raspberry) flavors. Great value. Score: 88
1995 Alma Garnacha – $8: Deep crimson hue. Stewed fruit, tanky nose common in co-operative wines. Big, ripe mouthful of rustic, gutsy wine marred by a bitter finish. Score: 84
Bodegas Julián Chivite
The 1994 vintage – combined with the coming of age of the Chivite family's (Fernando, Julián and Mercedes) spectacular 150-hectare Arínzano Estate Vineyard (planted to tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay near the historic town of Estella) and the maturation of Fernando Chivite's winemaking skills – will firmly place Chivite among the ranks of Spain's greatest wineries.
The 1994 Colección 125 is an astounding bottle of wine and can stand alongside the best wines I have ever tasted. Chivite makes the best-selling Gran Feudo rosado, one of the greatest rosés in Spain (which is to say one of the world's best), but I contend it was even better years ago, before cold fermentation, when it had a touch of that wonderful rust/onion-skin color that the greatest garnacha rosados then possessed.
Tasted at the winery in October 1996 and May 1997:
1994 Gran Feudo Crianza (70% tempranillo/25% garnacha/5% cabernet and merlot; one year in used American oak): Pretty ruby hue. Strawberry nose. Soft, fruity; good mouth-feel with a firm grip and ripe finish. Good value. Score: 87
1994 Reserva (80% tempranillo/18% merlot/2% cabernet): Deep, black ruby hue. New oak and French bread nose. Soft, rich, complex mélange of lovely ripe but not jammy red fruit flavors beautifully balanced by wood, a discernible terroir and firm tannins. Almost like a great Saint-Émilion. Score: 94
1994 Colección 125 Gran Reserva (80% tempranillo/20% merlot; from the Arínzano Estate; aged in American and French oak with at least one year in new French oak): Deep garnet hue. Tight nose with whiffs of pretty oak. Absolutely superb, beautifully balanced wine with delicious, ripe, black raspberry, black cherry and black currant flavors followed by a long finish imbued with complex spices and lovely, earthy terroir notes. Reminiscent of a great vintage of Château Margaux. This will be the wine that makes Fernando Chivite and his Arínzano Vineyard's reputation. Score: 97+
1993 Chivite Gran Feudo Reserva: Brood-ing, dark ruby hue. Tight, new-oak nose. Leaner and more angular than the 1992 reserva, but sharing some of the same qualities. Reminiscent of a petit château Bordeaux. Score: 86
1992 Chivite Reserva: Pretty, medium-ruby hue. Strawberry and toast aromas. Delicious and soft with strawberry, dark chocolate, black pepper and coffee flavors and an elegant, but firm finish. Score: 88
1991 Chivite Reserva (75% tempranillo/25% garnacha): Deep garnet hue. Tight nose with hints of pretty oak. Great, complex mid-palate flavors of strawberries, black currants, coffee, chocolate and sous bois (forest leaves, truffles); nice wood component and great balance. Score: 90+
1990 Chivite Gran Reserva (made only in good tempranillo vintages): A more traditional Rioja-esque, yellow-ruby hue. Charming nose of strawberries and oak. Delicious mélange of soft, restrained, ripe strawberry fruit, good acids and firm tannins. Lovely finish, but needs five more years in the bottle. Score: 92
Bodegas Magaña
At one point, Magaña was making the best red wines in Navarra, most notably a stunning Merlot reserva. Lately, the wines have been somewhat spotty and there are persistent rumors of problems at the winery. Juan Magaña is Spain's maestro of Merlot, but he has had trouble keeping an importer, and the winery is in a state of flux. I am hopeful that Magaña will recoup his early style, which showed the promise of producing some of the best red wines in Spain.
Tasted in Spain and in New York in July 1997:
1991 Eventum (85% merlot/15% tempranillo) – $10: Slightly funky aroma blows off to reveal a minty, toasty, leathery nose with ripe black fruit notes. A serious, stylish, complex wine with sweet, ripe fruit and a dry finish. The off-putting funkiness adds a note of mystery. Good value. Score: 88
1990 Eventum (70% merlot/30% tempranillo) – $10: Blackish-purple hue. Plummy, smoky, spicy oak nose. Very rich with deep, black fruit, chocolate flavors and a solid, tannic underpinning. Score: 89
1989 Magaña Reserva – $17: Medium garnet hue. Complex nose of toasty oak, leather, spice and barnyard nuances. Elegant, aterciopelado (velvety) chocolate flavors with a dry, tannic finish. Score: 89+
Bodegas Ochoa
Javier Ochoa was in charge of Navarra's experimental enological station at Olite, an undertaking that helped mark the epoch in modern-day Navarra winemaking. He was constantly experimenting with foreign varieties and became the leader in Navarra for innovation. Ochoa makes a number of varietals – Cabernet, Merlot, Tempranillo, Garnacha – and is one of the primary forces behind the 100 percent varietal wine movement in Navarra.
Tasted in Spain and in New York in July 1997:
1996 Ochoa Tinto (tempranillo/garnacha blend) – $8: Dark crimson hue. Pretty nose of leather and spice. A full-bodied mouthful of rich cherry fruit; reminiscent of a Rioja but with a hot finish. Reasonable value. Score: 84
1994 Ochoa Tempranillo Crianza – $11: Deep crimson hue. Sweet American oak aromas. Tannic, hard, awkward, one-dimensional; gutsy, tight, spicy flavors with a hot, tannic finish. Time will tell. Score: 82
1994 Ochoa Merlot Crianza (American oak) – $11: Deep garnet hue. Toasty, smoky nose. Soft, ripe, plummy flavors, friendly tannins, but has an unappealing, bitter finish. Needs time. Score: 82
1993 Ochoa Cabernet Sauvignon – $11: Dark crimson hue. Light oak and bell pepper nose. One dimensional, tannic, a bit vegetal. Would benefit from being blended with some other grape. Score: 81
1992 Ochoa Tempranillo Crianza – $11: Dark ruby hue. Pleasant oak and strawberry nose. After being open for a while and sampled with food, the wine displayed a delicious balance of strawberry, chocolate and soft cabernet tannins with some complexity and a nice finish. Far more interesting than its 100% tempranillo billing on some wine lists. Score: 87
1991 Ochoa Reserva – $14: Deep crimson hue. Tight nose. Some plummy fruit and spices locked in a very tannic, unpleasant grip. Score: 83
1987 Ochoa Gran Reserva (tempranillo/cabernet blend) – $15: Deep garnet hue. Cherry nose. Some smooth, jammy, California-esque fruit and coffee flavors, but lacks depth and ends with bitter tannins. Score: 83
Bodegas Nekeas
Here, a promising young female winemaker, Concha Vecino, deals with somewhat immature vines, foreign varieties and new oak with mixed results. The 1997 vintage was the fifth harvest at Nekeas.
Tasted at the winery in October 1996 and in New York in April 1997:
1995 Vega Sindoa Cabernet-Tempranillo (60% cabernet/40% tempranillo; aged nine months in Allier and American oak) – $7: Deep crimson hue. Spicy oak, bell pepper and strawberry aromas. Rich, ripe cherry, raspberry and chocolate flavors with a long, smooth finish. Good value. Score: 86
1994 Vega Sindoa Cabernet-Tempranillo (60% cabernet/40% tempranillo; aged 13 months in 30% Allier and 70% American oak) – $7: Deep plummy-black hue. Tight, new oak nose that smells like wood rescued from a sawmill fire. Some fairly delicious soft, ripe fruit and bell pepper flavors, but the unyielding oak falls like a guillotine on the finish. Time may soften its bite. Score: 83+
1995 Vega Sindoa Merlot (100% Italian merlot clone; aged nine months in Allier and American oak) – $9: Deep crimson hue. Nice, ripe, plummy merlot and spicy, oak nose. A big, delicious mouthful of rich, soft, stylish merlot fruit with a firm, spicy finish. Score: 87
Bodegas Las Campanas
Once one of the top wineries in Navarra for its solid, reliable wines – especially its young clarete-type tinto, its superb Las Campanas rosado and, now, the exceptional, top-of-the-line Castillo de Javier rosado – this century-old winery is now owned by the giant Bodegas y Bebidas (Campo Viejo). In my opinion, it could do much, much better with its red wines. Las Campanas is currently being outdistanced by much newer wineries.
1994 Las Campanas Crianza: Light plum-red hue. New oak nose. Oaky, commercial, easy-drinking, cherry-flavored wine with no soul. Score: 82
Palacio de Muruzabal
One of the most promising of the up-and-coming crop of Navarrese producers, Muruzabal has 17 hectares of cab and four hectares of merlot. It also makes a very good Chardonnay from a six-hectare plot.
1992 Palacio de Muruzabal Tinto Reserva – $26: Medium crimson hue. Closed nose hints at spicy, new French oak. A delicious, very well-balanced wine with sweet fruit, complex flavors and very tannic grip. A strong effort in an off vintage. Pricey. Score: 89+
Bodegas Piedemonte
Organistrum, Eventum, Durius, Augustus and Olígitum. The Romans, who occupied Spain for centuries, including Olite, are back. In Spanish, pie de monte means at the foot of the mountain, so forgive the coincidental confusion with the Italian Piedmont. This sociedad (limited association) owns 450 hectares of vines, including 160 of cabernet sauvignon, 150 of tempranillo, 60 of garnacha, 40 of merlot, 20 mazuelo (carignane) and 20 of viura. The oak-aged wines see about a five-to-one ratio of American to French oak. The wines, bearing very modern labels, offer excellent value.
1995 Viña Ezocue – $5: Light garnet hue. Cherry nose. Soft, quaffable cherry fruit. Good value for everyday drinking. Score: 82
1995 Olígitum Tinto (merlot/tempranillo blend) – $6: Light crimson hue. Slightly funky, French bread nose. Soft, simple, easy to drink with juicy strawberry and cherry flavors. Good value. Score: 83
1995 Olígitum Tempranillo -$6: Medium garnet hue. Sweet, yeasty, strawberry-scented nose. Soft, sweet strawberry fruit with an attractive, light tannic bite. Excellent value. Score: 85+
1995 Olígitum Merlot -$6: Light crimson hue. Very soft, facile, minty fruit; has some stuffing, good grip and a somewhat bitter finish. Excellent value. Score: 84+
1995 Olígitum Cabernet Sauvignon -$6: Pretty ruby hue. Yeasty, bell pepper aromas. Heady, but very well made with delicious, rich, sweet fruit, wild briary flavors and a firmly tannic finish. A good young red wine and a fine value. Score: 85
1993 Olígitum Crianza -$8: Bright crimson hue. Attractive oak and sweet berries on the nose. Offers interesting flavors, but is essentially flabby with no concentration and a very bitter, oaky finish. Score: 81
Navarra's Country Cuisine
Navarra's country cuisine, talented chefs and lively restaurants are among the best in Spain. They have at their disposal a vast cornucopia of ingredients to draw from: garden-fresh produce such as artichokes, asparagus, beans and red piquillo peppers from the Ribera of southern Navarra; quail, partridge and rabbit from the mountains; trout from the cold, clear mountain streams; fish and shellfish from the nearby Atlantic; excellent artisan cheeses from Roncal in the Pyrenees; and lamb from all across the province.
In addition to the memorable, inexpensive restaurants found in practically every village in Navarra, there are several superb gastronomic temples of Navarrese alta cocina (haute cuisine) and nueva cocina (nouvelle cuisine) in such places as Pamplona, Tafalla and Cintruenigo.
There are scores of classic Navarrese culinary specialties, such as esparragos blancos, fat, white asparagus served with homemade mayonnaise; truchas a la Navarra, trout cooked with a slice of mountain ham; pimientos de piquillo rellenos, delicious triangular-shaped peppers stuffed with brandade, or meat; menestra de verduras, a mélange of young Ribera vegetables; alcachofas con jamón, artichokes cooked with serrano (mountain-cured) ham; pochas, a legendary bean dish cooked with chorizo and quail; and cuajada, a delicious, yogurt-like dessert made from sheep's milk.
Along with the aforementioned reds, one should not miss the excellent, dry rosados. Ernest Hemingway loved these wines so much that he carried them all over Spain during "The Dangerous Summer" of 1959. Try the rosados of Las Campanas (especially Castillo de Javier), Señorio de Sarría, Malón de Echaide, Castillo de Irache and Julián Chivite's superlative Gran Feudo.
Dining
Travel Notes: The country code for Spain is 34, the code for Navarra 48 (948 when calling from within Spain). When dialing from outside the country, drop the 9 in the area code. Prices are figured at 150 pesetas to $1.
Hartza
Sisters Mari, Manoli and Julia Hartza serve some of Pamplona's best food – traditional Navarrese and Basque dishes using seasonal ingredients – in the elegant dining rooms of a lovely, renovated house accented with antiques and oil paintings. Mari or Manoli will recite the dishes of the day – alubias de Tolosa (red beans); baked fresh fish hake, turbot, sea bream; almejas a la marinera (clams in a wine sauce). Take their suggestions and be prepared to pay 8,000 to 9,000 pesetas per person with wine, dessert, coffee, tax and tip.
Europa
One of the top restaurants in Pamplona specializing in classic Navarrese dishes, such as menestra, pochas and ajoarriero (bacalao in a garlicky tomato sauce) as well as sophisticated nouvelle Basque dishes using first-rate ingredients. Expensive, but excellent.
(El Horno de) Aralar
A Pamplona classic offering excellent preparations of regional fare, such as stuffed piquillo peppers, bean dishes and brick oven-roasted lamb at reasonable prices.
San Ignacio
A popular, relatively new, moderately priced Pamplona restaurant serving superb regional cuisine based on top-quality ingredients. Try the cogollas de Tudela con anchoas, lettuce hearts with cured anchovies; calamares a la plancha, grilled squid; or revuelto de ajos frescos con gambas, scrambled eggs with garlic shoots and shrimp.
Casa Zanito
This restaurant serves Nueva cocina dishes such as hake-filled crêpes with clam sauce and classics such as brick oven-roasted shoulder of goat.
Mesón del Peregrino
High-quality modern cuisine employing top-notch regional ingredients served in a charming, rustic, but elegantly appointed room. Attentive service and a good wine list are hallmarks of owner Angel Cambero's style. He also mixes a mean American Martini.
La Cocina de las Coronas
Located just across the Navarrese border in a stunning village, La Cocina is a charming regional restaurant featuring authentic Aragonese cuisine, which has many dishes related to those of Navarra. Quite good and reasonably priced.
Tubal
Owned and run by Atxen Jiménez, a woman with the highest standards for cuisine and service, Tubal is one of the top-ranked and most elegant restaurants in Navarra. It offers first-rate, sophisticated nueva cocina and artfully prepared renditions of Navarrese classics, always based on the best, freshest ingredients. Tubal has an excellent wine list. Expensive.
Maher
This one-star Michelin restaurant, owned by Chef Enrique Martínez, is located in the same town as Bodegas Julián Chivite and offers a fine combination of modern Spanish dishes and beautifully prepared Navarrese classics. Reasonably priced for the quality of the dishes served.
Lodging
Most Pamplona hotels are either modern in nature or have been recently renovated. They are sometimes more functional than charming, but they are comfortable nonetheless. During July's Fiestas de San Fermín, unless one has reserved well ahead, rooms are very hard to come by and extremely expensive.
Hotels in the provinces tend to be modestly priced, are sometimes homey and usually are reasonably comfortable.
There is also the option of staying in casas rurales, rustic, picturesque family village homes, which have been renovated to accommodate tourists. Most are quite comfortable and usually downright cheap.
There are also good paradores de turismo – Spain's excellent system of government-run hotels, which often are in converted palaces, castles and other historic buildings. There are paradores at Olite (in a wing of the castle-palace) and at Sos del Rey Católico, the unspoiled medieval town just across the Navarrese border where King Ferdinand was born (a few kilometers into neighboring Aragón). Parador reservations can be made in the United States by contacting Marketing Ahead, 433 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016; phone: (800) 223-1356; fax: (212) 686-0271.
Prices listed here are for double occupancy with a bath. Remember that these rates can more than double during the Fiestas de San Fermín.
Hotel Baztan
Situated just outside one of the liveliest and largest villages in the Navarrese Pyrenees, Baztan is a comfortable hotel with a swimming pool. (9,350-10,350 pesetas)
Hostal Burguete
Typical, rustic inn where Jake Barnes and Bill Gorton stayed for their trout fishing expedition in The Sun Also Rises. (5,000 pesetas)
Parador Fernándo de Aragón
Situated in a spectacular medieval village with stunning views, the restaurant serves good regional food, including seldom encountered dishes drawn from ancient recipes. (14,500 pesetas)
Hotel Irache
A functional, modern hotel located a few kilometers from Estella. (11,100-13,900 pesetas)
Hotel Maisonnave
A modern, comfortable, conveniently located hotel. The choice of many well-heeled foreigners who flock to San Fermín each year. (15,500 pesetas)
Meson del Peregrino
A charming, rustically decorated hotel with an excellent restaurant. Situated where the most heavily traveled pilgrim's routes to Santiago de Compostela converge. (8,000-18,000 pesetas)
Parador Principe de Viana
Located in a wing of the castle-palace in an enchanting walled village in wine country, this parador is comfortably furnished with period antiques and tapestries; its restaurant offers authentic regional dishes. (14,500-16,500 pesetas)
Iruña Palace Tres Reyes
Pamplona's ultimate luxury hotel offers all the amenities. (10,000-18,000 pesetas)
Hotel Yoldi
A classic, recently renovated hotel that is a favorite among bullfighters, many of whom choose to stay there while competing. (9,500-15,000 pesetas)
Casas Rurales:
Many Navarra villages have two or three casas rurales, some, like Ochagavia in the Pyrenees, have up to ten. A booklet titled Guía de Alojamientos de Navarra – Turismo Rural contains color photos of each house, proprietor's names, telephone numbers, number of rooms and prices. To obtain this booklet or to reserve rooms in the casas rurales in the villages of Navarra, write to the Tourist Office of Navarra, calle Duque de Ahumada 3, 31002 Pamplona (Navarra), or call 22.07.41.
Bed and breakfast at many of these charming houses costs between 3,000 and 4,000 pesetas.
The Pilgrim's Reward
An important stop on the Camino de Santiago is the Monasterio de Irache, 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) south of Estella just off route N111 at Ayegui. Irache, believed to have its roots in the Visigothic period, was one of the earliest Benedictine monasteries and one of the first pilgrim hospitals on the Spanish portion of the road to Santiago. The massive building incorporates a blend of architectural styles added over the centuries, including a 12th-Century Romanesque apse, a Renaissance cloister and a Herreran-style tower patterned after El Escorial.
Facing the monastery is Museo del Vino (a wine museum), part of the Castillo de Irache winery, whose dry rosado is one of the best in Navarra. Behind the winery, along the gravel pilgrim's road that leads up to the monastery, is one of the most unusual oddities in the world of wine, the Fuente del Vino, a spigot (there is also one for water) from which pilgrim's can draw a glass of wine gratis, courtesy of Bodegas Irache. The red wine is pretty coarse, suggesting press wine, but it has sustained many a wine-thirsty pilgrim and, hell, it's free.
Points of Interest
Pamplona: July 6-14, Fiestas de San Fermín; running of the bulls and bullfights • Excellent restaurants • The Old Quarter
El Camino de Santiago: Sangüesa • Roncesvalles and environs • Puente la Reina's Romanesque bridge • Medieval town of Estella
Southern Navarra: Medieval castle town of Olite • Old Moorish and Jewish quarters of Tudela-Roman winery at Funes • Walled castle village of Artajona
For more information, contact the National Tourist Office of Spain, 666 Fifth Avenue, 35th Floor, New York, NY 10022. Phone: (212) 265-8822 Contributing Editor Gerry Dawes, who has been traveling to Spain regularly for more than 25 years, is a New York-based wine, food and travel photojournalist whose articles and photographs have been published in The New York Times, International Wine Cellar, Food Arts and Martha Stewart Living. He was recently named restaurant critic for Gannett Suburban Newspapers. |
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