Navarra (Nafarroa)

In 905 AD King Sancho I. established a separate kingdom of Navarra (Basque: Nafarroa) in Spain, with Pamplona as the capital city. In its heyday under Sancho III. (990-1035) the kingdom stretched on both sides of the Pyrenees mountains from Barcelona right up to Bordeaux. The first inhabitants were Basques, and their influences can be noted to this day. The Count of Champagne, Thibaut I., inherited the kingdom in 1234, and it was ruled by several French aristocratic lines after that. The larger section, Upper Navarra, south of the Pyrenees, was annexed by Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1512, and thus became Spanish. The son of Joan, the queen of Navarra, ascended the French throne as King Henry IV. (1553-1610) in 1589, and amalgamated the northern part into the French kingdom in 1607. The region has a very long wine-growing tradition. The ruins of a Roman wine cellar were found near the village of Funes, the storage capacity is estimated to have been around 75.000 litres. In the 11th century, the famous pilgrims’ route „Camino de Santiago“ (leading to Santiago de Compostela, the capital of the Spanish region of Galicia) ran through Pamplona. Along the route, the pilgrims enjoyed the wines of Rioja, which lies to the west, and of Navarra, and this led to a thriving export trade with Spanish wines to areas as far away as Normandy. Navarra was famous for its rosé wines (rosados) in the 15th century. After the discovery of America in 1492 the region experienced a huge wine boom. Ships travelling to the New World were loaded with wine from Navarra. The 50.000 hectares of vineyards in existence at the time were practically totally destroyed by phylloxera at the end of the 19th century, and the vineyards had to be completely replanted. One of the first wine-growing co-operative in Spain was founded in Navarra in 1911.

Today the region in the north-east of Spain, which also has special political autonomous rights, has a total vineyard area of 17.300 hectares, and is classified as a separate DO. The large area is divided into five geographical units, Tierra Estelba and Valdizarbe in the north, Baja Montaña and Ribera Altanorth of the Ebro river in the centre, and by far the largest area, accounting for 30% of the total, Ribera Baja in the south. A special feature is that a small part of this region in the west is part of the DOCa Rioja. The well-known research institute for viticulture and oenology, EVENA, located in the north of the city of Olite, has played a key role in the development of viticulture in this region. The two most widely planted varieties are the red varieties Garnacha Tinta (Grenache Noir) with 60% and Tempranillo with a 25% share. Other red varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon, Graciano, Mazuelo and Merlot. These are used to produce red wine (60% share) as well as the rosados typical of the region (30%). White wine plays only a minor part. The most important white grape variety, accounting for around 80% of the white total, is Viura (Macabeo), others include Chardonnay, Garnacha Blanca, Malvasía and Moscatel de Gran Menudo. There are more than 6.000 grape growers, but only around 90 bodegas (cellars that bottle their own wines). Total annual production is in excess of 700.000 hectolitres of wine. Well-known producers include Artazu, Asensio, Cirbonera, Guelbenzu, Inurrieta, Julián Chivite, Ochoa, Palacio de la Vega, Princípe de Viana, Telmo Rodríguez, Vicente Malumbres, Viña Aliaga and Virgen Blanca. There is also a separate DO for the well-known Pacharán, a liqueur made from sloe berries.