Las Campanas, Navarra Crianza 2020

From the vast region of Navarra, to the east of Rioja, comes this gorgeously smooth, focused and perfectly balanced red made from Tempranillo, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

A perfumed and expressive nose showing plum, crushed strawberry and black cherry flavours with toasted nuts, coffee, cocoa and vanilla leading to a smooth, rewarding and complex palate with a long and tasty finish. 

It's a brilliant blend that is a classic expression of this region that takes its influences from Rioja, Penedes and France - all of which are its neighbours.

The grapes are more often grown in bush vines and this allows for more complex flavours in the fruit and for the vines to be able to withstand drier and harsher desert-like weather conditions, which are more common in Navarra than in Rioja (which is higher in altitude and more verdant, protected by mountain ranges to the north and south). So it's a different climatic region with its own history and traditions of grape varieties that has, as of yet, been often overlooked in favour of the more aristocratic wines from neighbouring Rioja. This can create the perfect storm - old vines and very underrated quality, leading to really keen pricing!

The grapes for this wine are harvested and fermented separately according to variety and aged for 18 months in both French and American Oak barrels (a process that would increase the cost of the wine considerably were it from Rioja!) before careful blending and bottling, when the wine then rest for a further six months before being released to the market, in perfect condition.

Las Campanas, or "The Bells", is named in homage to the towers that surround the original vineyards purchassed by the Manzanos family, whose Rioja winery is situated right on the border with Navarra in the town of Azagra. Their vineyard holding is substantial and growing on an annual basis, recently including the purchase of an ancient castle and its vineyards, Castillo del Olito. They are progressive but inclusive too, ensuring that the vineyard workers and partners are respected and maintained in order to continue the levels of expertise and keep employment in each locality. Careful handling...

Finca Manzanos is a family-owned and family-run winery that has established itself as one of the key players in this most important of European wine regions over the past decade. Based on the cusp of south-west Navarra and the north-eastern edge of Rioja, their location allows them to make wines from both appellations, a feature not afforded to any other city in the region.

What really marks them out in a business sense is their vision and progress, which is largely due to the charisma and planning of their current owner, Victor. He is the latest Manzanos heir to run the firm which he has done since his father died suddenly, leaving him unexpectedly at the head of the family business. He was 21 at the time, finishing a Masters in the LSE. He's a smart cookie. The winery gave Vic challenges but he saw them as opportunities and he grown the winery to a whopping 250 hectares of vines that cover both Rioja and Navarra regions. The north-east of Rioja has been renamed in recent years (with much assistance from Vic) and now forms the Rioja Oriental subzone, with a high proportion of bush vines, as seen more frequently in Navarra, giving the wines from Manzanos an individual yet recognisable character and consistent, excellent quality.

Vic is a cool character. He also owns a network of Porsche garages across Spain. When you arrive at the winery there are quite literally any number of brand new Porsches in the carpark. He picks one and goes for a spin: when I went with a friend, he picked a white, four-wheel drive sports thing with shiatsu massage chairs for the font passenger. Off we went in the lap of luxury, then he put the foot down and we all thought we could smell the cooking of our individual geese. This was because we saw the end of the road on which we were driving approach at a rate commensurate with something from a Crash Test Dummy advert. Zoom. Through the invisible barrier we went and onto the dirt tracks that ran between the vines. All the way until we stopped at the end of a row of vines. He flipped a switch and like Inspector Gadget, the car rose by what seemed a foot and we sped off again through the rest of the vineyard. This detour was so that he could skip rush hour traffic (which in Rioja couldn't be that bad) just to get us to the restaurant earlier than the other guests. He's brilliant. And wears beige suede loafers with a gold buckle with the letters LV on them. Very posh.