Guide to Wine from Aragon

Aragon has concentrated on improving its wine production techniques, selecting the grape varieties with an eye to quality and streamlining traditional cultivation methods.

The progress that has been made is noteworthy, though more pronounced in some regions than others; all the areas are aiming once and for all to get rid of their reputation for high-alcohol and generally unsophisticated wines.

In the Huesca Somontano region, they’ve gone some way to achieving this by producing some wines with good character; and in Calatayud and Campo de Borja as well, to a lesser extent.

Carinena, with its more rigid production structures, is lagging behind a little. The continental nature of the climate, which affects all the areas, determines the character of the wines and sometimes produces extreme ups and downs as a result.

Campo de Borja

This Designation of Origin from Aragon straddles the regions of Rioja and Carinena on one of the sides of the Moncayo which are the main mountain range to be found in the area. It has an extreme continental climate, with hot, dry summers and very cold winters. Fogs which arrives from the River Ebro seems to add a certain humidity.

To complement the Garnacha grape, which constitutes more than 80% of the vineyard, other species such as Tempranillo, Mazuelo and Cabernet Sauvignon have been allowed on the land to help in modifying the style of the highly rated young wines.

Campo de Borja offers some differences in relation to its neighbour and better known Carinena. Even though they both share the vigour of the Carinena wines. Generally speaking they are denser, with more body, a clear frutal aroma and great personality. When these wines are well produced, they offer a good balance and are both energetic and singular.

Somontano

The Somontano region, small and situated on a high plateau between the foothills of the Pyrennees and the Ebro lowlands, has gained a reputation and a name for itself thanks to the efforts of certain wineries with a real love of the art of winemaking which have been developing some interesting white wines from varieties like Riesling, Chardonnay and Chenin and also varieties of red including Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.