Bodegas Alto Moncayo, located in DO Campo de Borja, was founded in 2002 with the support of renowned Spanish wine importer in the US Jorge Ordoñez, Bodegas Borsao and various other national and international associates. It is a bodega where only native Garnacha wines from the region are made, under the supervision of Australian oenologist Chris Ringland and Bodegas Borsao’s oenologist, José Luis Chueca. Their objective: to achieve maximum quality with the aim of becoming a worldwide leader.

A total of 60 hectares of ‘mountain’ Garnacha, planted various decades ago on the slopes of the Moncayo foothills (indeed some of the region’s oldest vineyards), provided a starting point for the creation of this modest bodega under DO Campo de Borja. It sells its wines under three labels: ‘Aquilon’, ‘Alto Moncayo’ and ‘Veraton’.

The unique soils where the old Garnacha vines are located are red clay mixed with slate, very shallow and poor in organic material. The vines are goblet-pruned with native clones from the vicinity, and face south-west.

‘Aquilon’, is the crown jewel, the crème de la crème, from its vines to its barrels. This 100 percent Garnacha wine is made from 40 to 80 year-old vines, and is aged 20 months in new oak. A potent wine, full in the mouth, juicy, refreshing and with a great concentration of flavours and an excellent balance, it is “like tasting the authentic essence of Garnacha”, according to Bodegas Alto Moncayo’s sole administrator, José Miguel Sanmartín.