Viña Zorzal Wines – Viña Zorzal Chardonnay – DO Navarra

Chardonnay.

From our serie of varietal wines. The only foreign grape we are working with Chardonnay grows perfectly in this higher altitude plots in Fitero area.

We harvest early to get acidity in the grape and freshness in the wine, soft pressing and just free run most fermentation. The wine was bottled at the end of November 2019.

Viña Zorzal Wines is located in the heart of Navarra’s Ribera Baja region, in the centuries-old village of Corella. VIÑA CHARDONNAY 2019 is a singular wine with a differentconcept. It is the result of a clear commitment to respecting tradition and a concern for the environment through the use of organic production techniques. This is the product of two generations of the Sanz family’s profound knowledge of what their land can produce.

HARVEST 2019: We are facing a historic vintage. The grapes were picked with an impeccable sanitary state, with ph lower than normal. Despite being a dry vintage, the rainy days were very well distributed and the vineyard did not suffer water stress. During the harvest, the temperatures were very mild, and this helped even more to that sanitary state that has impressed us so much. As a negative point, we find a considerable production reduction compared to the previous year.

VINEYARD:Vines located in Fitero area.

WINEMAKING:During the coolest hours of the evening, the grapes are picked upat their optimum moment of ripeness, they arestripped from the stalks to then be coldmacerated, extracting the free-run juice. The resulting grape must isfermented, gradually degrading the first degrees of alcohol, later on maintaining fermentation at a maximum of 15ºC. Once fermentation has concluded, the wine is decanted, cold-stabilized and bottled.

TASTING NOTES:

• APPEARANCE:Clear, medium intensity, lemon colour wine.
• NOSE:Clean, medium intensity aromas of citrus fruit and stone such us peach and apricot, soft mineral notes.
• PALATE: Dry and fresh, medium body. Stone fruits flavours and a long finish.PAIRING

RECOMMENDATIONS: Fresh pasta, rice dishes, lemon and aromatic herb seasoned poultry.

Village wines, Fitero.

In this area, the Mediterranean influence of the Ebro Valley disappears, giving way to a more continental climate, with hot summers, cold winters and great differences between day and night temperatures. The average annual temperature ranges between 13 ° and 14°C, the annual rainfall is between 400 and 500 mm, and the vine growing season is among the longest in the region. Navarra: Approx. 227 days.

A unique terroir

In these arid conditions, the vine roots have to burrow deep into the soil to find water, helped by the heterogeneous nature of the clay soils. Other factors that determine the quality of the wines include the location just on the geological border between the Sierra de Cameros Mountains and the Ebro river basin.

The vines grow on rocky and stony soils with variegated clays (heterogeneous), limestone and composite soils. The fact that the clay-based soils are non-homogeneous makes them much more permeable and resistant to erosion than the soils of the Ebro Basin.

Being bush vines grown on rocky and stony soils, the stone retains heat during the day and releases it at night, which has the effect of accelerating the ripening of the grapes. The stones also serve as a protective layer that helps retain moisture in the soil during the dry summer months.

Restoring the natural flora

The natural flora found around the vines that we are actively recovering is very unusual, as it includes local species such as flowering plants from the lamiaceae family which thrive in chalky soils, as well as euphorbias related to some North African species.

Mountain ironwort and the local plant soplaiplon are also found, along with various types of wild poppies. Watercress, bryony, devil’s snare and field horsetail from the equisetaceae family (a relic from the Carboniferous Period) are among the many other plants to be found here.

Perhaps due to the unique characteristics of the area, we are proud to have one of the oldest vineyards known in Navarra, 115 year old Garnacha vines that survived phylloxera. We are currently investigating the unique features of this vineyard.