In the spring I visited Navarra in Northern Spain for the first time. Navarra has enjoyed, from the earliest times, before as a Kingdom and now as a Statutory Community, excellent vineyards and first-class wines but is somehow forgotten in todays wine production in Spain.
It is situated in a privileged geographical area, between Bordeaux and Rioja, and its climate and soils are especially suited for cultivating grapevines. Just south of the Pyrenees it has very hot days but cool nights which benefits the grapes.
During the next couple of days I will take you on a small virtual trip to Navarra. We will visit wineries, restaurants and of course taste some wines. But before we start I will just give you some background of the history of Navarra and wine:
Navarra Wine History
Not very long ago, a group of researchers were able to identify in Navarra, plants of the primitive and original “vitis silvestris”. This vegetation matter, whose antiquity may be evaluated in five million year, has been identified in only a few places in the whole world. The first documents witnessing the cultivation of the grapevines and the production of wine in Navarra come from the times of the Rome domination. The building of the first monasteries and the road to Santiago de Compostela during the 9th. and 10th. centuries, were the two main factors which contributed to the progress of the vine culture, since the pilgrims brought with them new winegrowing varieties.
Also, the monasteries were one of the main focal points from which the renewal of the techniques used to produce wine expanded to other areas. During the 14th. century, Navarra was already an important producer and exporter of wine. The beginning of the 15th. century was undoubtedly the period at which the cultivation of vine reached its greater expansion, even surpassing the limits of Pamplona, to the north.
The main form of cultivation of the city’s farmers was the vine, to such an extent that it became necessary to limit the extension of the growing lands in order to enable cultivation of the necessary cereals to feed the inhabitants of the Kingdom. However, these northern limits were not maintained for very long time because the cultivation of vine increased considerably toward the south.
Paradoxically, the 19th. century witnessed the greatest prosperity in Navarrese viticulture but at the same time, it was also the most disastrous period. The phylloxera appeared in France from 1856 and the destruction of the vineyard of the neighbouring country brought about a genuine outburst of wine production and export to France. Nevertheless, several years late, the phylloxera also arrived in Navarra, this ravaging the Navarrase vineyards. 48.500 hectares out of the 50.000 wine growing hectares in Navarra were devastated.
Today a total of 16,224 hectares, 40,000 acres, are planted with wines and the production is made from 114 bodegas (producers). And the region is a prosperous and beautiful region, problably best-known for its bullfighting festival, San Fermin, immortalized by Ernest Hemmingway, that takes place from July 6 to 14 every year. Its the festival where the bulls run through the streets of Pamplona and various would-be "toreros" run in front of them.
Today we continue visiting the vineyards of Navarra. We start in the city of Olite - app. 30 km (19 miles) south of Pamplona. Here we find several wine producers, among them Bodega Marco Real. Its the first bodega (winery) when you drive into the town on the right hand side.
Mon, Aug 29, 2005
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