Valley of Valdizarbe, Navarra
Get ready, folks—some of my favorite wines from my trip to Spain have officially landed! And we’re kicking things off with one of my favorite value-driven wineries from the trip: Bodegas Nekeas.
While we weren’t able to make it to Navarra to visit Nekeas in person, we did get the chance to taste through their wines during our welcome dinner. Fátima Elizalde walked us through an incredible lineup showcasing Garnacha in several different forms—and these wines immediately caught my attention.
We started with one of my favorite wines of the entire trip, the Garnacha Blanca 25 Vendimias. Bodegas Nekeas uses some of its oldest vines, all planted prior to 1940 and scattered among a handful of small plots, to produce this limited-release wine. With only 5,555 bottles produced, 25 Vendimias was created to commemorate the winery’s 25th anniversary and honor the pioneers who fought to revive viticulture in the Valley of Nekeas.
The result is a seriously impressive expression of old-vine Garnacha Blanca—and at $19.99 a bottle, it’s the kind of wine that makes you wonder how they pull it off.
Next up was the incredibly bright and food-friendly Cepas por Cepas Garnacha. This comes from some of the “younger” vines on the estate—and by younger, we’re still talking 30+ years old! Fermented in stainless steel and aged in used French barriques, Cepas por Cepas is a lively, fresh take on Garnacha designed to be enjoyed in its youth. Juicy, energetic, and versatile at the table, this is an incredible foil for a whole range of fall flavors. At $13.99, it’s also an absolute steal.
Finally, we tasted the 2023 El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Garnacha, produced from vines planted between 1890 and 1960.
Yes, you read that correctly: 1890.
Those vines are still producing fruit more than 130 years later, and I’ve gotta say, the wine is absolutely incredible. It has the depth and character you hope to find in truly old-vine Garnacha while somehow remaining remarkably affordable. Once again, you’re looking at just $19.99 a bottle on the shelf.
And if you need a little professional backup for my enthusiasm, these wines also earned some seriously impressive scores from Tim Atkin, Master of Wine:
- 94 points — Garnacha Blanca 25 Vendimias — $19.99
- 93 points — Cepas por Cepas Garnacha — $13.99
- 96 points — El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Garnacha — $19.99
As happened so many times during my trip through Spain, I walked away from this tasting asking the same question: How are they producing wines from vineyards this old, with this much character, and selling them for a song?
Old vines. Tiny-production wines. Serious scores. And nothing here breaks twenty bucks.
Our collective hats are off to you, Bodegas Nekeas. This is exactly the kind of wine value that makes Spain—and Navarra in particular—so exciting to explore.