Piqueras Old Vines Garnacha

The Piqueras’ are a fourth generation Spanish winemaking family nestled away in Almansa, south east Spain, crafting seriously good wine for over 110 years.

Their family owned vineyards sit a whopping 2,500 feet above sea level and with high sunshine hours and low rainfall the vines, planted on stony, lime rich soils, work their arses off to produce grapes full of intense flavours. There’s even an organic sheep farm on the property where they let their fluffy little friends roam free to help keep the plant life low and the natural fertiliser high!

Their Old Vines Garnacha is made from grapes from, wouldn’t you know it, old vines. In fact 45-60 year old dry-farmed bush vines. We’ve wrapped our lips around a few of these reds from Piqueras and they’re quickly becoming one of our favourite producers – these are seriously delicious, incredibly flavoursome reds at great prices. Full bodied with a swag of rich, dark, spicy red fruit flavours.

And these are no ordinary Garnacha grapes either. The grape is actually called Garnacha Tintorera (known as Alicante Bouschet in France) and it’s a grape that’s a little bit different from the rest. Peel back the skin from this grape and you’ll see its got red flesh, unlike other grapes which have clear flesh. This helps to make big, rich, juicy reds that are dark and inky in colour.

The Piqueras label is brought into NZ by Master of Wine Steve Bennett who reckons this lot are one of the best value producers he’s come across in his 29 years in the game! As Steve says about this one “From 45-60 year old organic vines – this inky, powerful, full-bodied red is hard to believe for the price. A real find!”

Go Mediterranean on the food match and pair with rice and pasta dishes, cured salted meats (jamón, chorizo) and semi-cured cheeses.