Bodegas Paniza Dama D Roca Garnacha Cariñena 2025
£9.75
The wine
Garnacha from the stony, high-altitude vineyards of Cariñena, where the variety has been grown for centuries. Unoaked and made for the fruit: red berries and wild strawberry with a warm, gently spicy edge and soft tannins. Serve it with a slight chill and it works even harder.
Aragon is Garnacha's heartland and probably its birthplace. The old bush vines on Cariñena's stony hillsides are dry-farmed under the cierzo, the cold dry wind off the Ebro valley, and the harsh conditions keep yields tiny. That concentration is why wines from this part of Spain represent such exceptional value.
The producer
Bodegas Paniza
View all Bodegas Paniza winesBodegas Paniza is a growers' cooperative in Carinena, founded in 1953 and drawing on around 3,000 hectares in the hills south of Zaragoza in Aragon.
Carinena is one of the oldest wine regions in Spain, granted its appellation in 1932, and it is the only one to have given its name to a grape variety: the Carinena grape, known as Carignan in France and Mazuelo in Rioja. Ironically the region now plants far more Garnacha than the variety that bears its name.
Aragon is Garnacha's heartland. The grape probably originated here before spreading across the Mediterranean, and the old bush vines on the stony hillsides at 400 to 800 metres are among the most valuable plantings in Spain. The climate is harsh, with the cierzo wind blowing cold and dry off the Ebro valley, and yields are correspondingly small. Value from this part of Spain remains exceptional.
