Bodegas Alto Moncayo – Veraton – DO Campo de Borja.
Grenache.
‘Veraton’ is the third wine we produce from the Garnacha grape, from vines between 30 and 50 years old, and aged in barrels for 16 months. It is a wine with an attractive collection of balsamic notes, of chocolate and black fruits, very warm in the mouth and an extremely pleasant finish.
The garnacha grape is one of the varieties that best expresses its terroir. Thus, the Garnacha of Alto Moncayo is different from the rest of the Campo de Borja Denominación de Origen (DO) area. This is due to the very strict selection made from the vineyards, the type of soil in which they are grown, the microclimate and the age of the vines. As these vines are very old, the strains are very well-balanced, with a very deep root system. The soil where these old strains of Garnacha are located is on the foothills glacis or slopes of the mountains of Ainzón, Fuendejalón and Tabuenca; very stony, with slightly rounded edges of limestone or marl, dolomite, quartzite and slate. These are highly permeable soils that allow the water to seep into the deeper layers of clay.
All of these factors, together with the location of the vineyards, between 500m and 800m in height, where the maturity is very slow, leads to wines of great fruitiness and minerality. In the mouth they are rich and fulsome, with pleasant, mature tannins and highly aromatic persistence.
Bodegas Alto Moncayo.
Bodegas Alto Moncayo is a winery located in the Campo de Borja Designation of Origin. It was created in 2002 with the aim of making it a world reference for high quality Grenache wines, made with local clones.
The winery is located in the highest part of the city of Borja, 500 m above sea level. From its privileged location we can see to the Northwest the Sanctuary of Mercy and La Muela de Borja. To the north the Ebro Valley and the Pyrenees, and to the southeast the Sierra de Tabuenca and the Huecha Valley. In the Southwest we see in the foreground El Moncayo, which is the highest point of the Cordillera Ibérica (2,315 m) and which gives its name to the winery.
This proximity of Moncayo is what gives the area a cold and dry continental climate of Atlantic influence in winter and Mediterranean in summer, with different microclimates depending on the altitude at which the vineyard is located. Thus we can find average precipitations of 250 mm / year in the low zones and of 350 mm / year in the highest zones of Tabuenca. These are areas hardened by "El Cierzo", a dominant wind from the Northwest that accelerates the evaporation of low rainfall.
The soils where these old Garnacha vines are located are glacis, or foothill soils of the Ainzón, Fuendejalón and Tabuenca mountains, very stony, with little boulders, of limestone or marl, dolomites, quartzites and slates. They are very permeable soils, which cause runoff to seep into the deepest clay layers.