Wine of the Week 11 – a great barbecue wine

Nekeas Valley.

It’s turning out to be quite a good summer here in the UK, so I thought it would be nice to have a Wine of the Week that would be delicious with a barbecue in the garden.

Yet again it is a wine from the Spanish region of Navarra, which is a place that I love as it produces a dazzling array of very different, but good quality wines. Sadly this diversity means that UK retailers have not really taken Navarra wines to their hearts, so although there are some wines available they can sometimes take a little seeking out.

This week’s wine though is not only easy to buy, but it is really delicious, great value for money and massively over performs for its price.

It is produced by Bodegas Nekeas who claim to farm the most northerly olive groves in Spain, from which they make some superb olive oil by the way. Once upon a time it was a cooperative for the Nekeas Valley, but is now a privately owned winery. The area had a tough few decades in the twentieth century and with no market for their wines most of the vines were grubbed up, but some of the Garnache / Grenache vines were very  hard to reach, so they just left them alone. Which is a really lucky break for us and Nekeas, because these 100 year old vines have now been brought back to life and produce this superb wine.

The vines form a single block, interspersed with olives, growing at between 450 and 650m above sea level. No only does this height make the area pretty cool for Garnacha, but the place is influenced by the Atlantic. Concha Vecino is the winemaker at Nekeas and she is one of the most engaging and charming winemakers that I have ever met. Her passion for this land clearly shows when she speaks and she described these Garnachas as the ‘Pinot Noir of Garnachas’ and explained that Navarra produces the only Atlantic Grenache in the world.

Concha Vecino winemaker at Bodegas Nekeas.

These local conditions make the wines feel fresher and more elegant than I normally expect Grenache to be and I was totally won over by the style of the Nekeas Garnacha as well as some of the other examples that I found in Navarra. By the way Concha also makes some lovely Chardonnays and Tempranillo blends as well, so if you are in Spain and see anything made by Nekeas I would highly recommend giving them a try.

Old Garnacha vines at Nekeas.

2012 El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Old Vine Garnacha
Bodegas Nekeas
Añorbe, D.O. Navarra, Valdizarbe sub-zone

The vineyard this wine comes from are at the highest point of the valley – the high plain or chaparral – and the vines are between 70 and 100 years old. The wine has a short time in French oak to give it a dusting of spice and touch of complexity. It gives rich aromas of vibrant red fruit with caramel, vanilla together with black fruit and spice. The palate is rich, smooth, supple, savoury and a little liquorice-like. The tannins are gentle, but firm while the palate delivers a lively mix of lovely intense rich sweet red and black fruit, while there is lovely freshness, balance, purity and cut of clean acidity that makes the wine dance across your palate.

Do try it, it would be perfect with a barbecue – perhaps lightly chilled even – and in winter it will go just as brilliantly with richer stews and hearty meat dishes – 90/100 points.

Available in the UK from Majestic Wine Warehouses @ £9.99 per bottle.

This is a lovely and great value wine and I urge you to rush to Majestic to try a bottle as soon as you can.