Centenarian Class
Those who have followed the Spanish wine renaissance over the past decade will be familiar with Domaines Lupier as the star producer of the Navarra region. Established in 2008 by Elisa Ucar and Enrique Basarte, they spotted the region’s potential and rapidly assembled a patchwork of truly ancient Garnacha vineyards dating back to 1903. Furthermore, they became founder members of the Futuro Vinador: an association established to protect and inspire quality, site-driven viticulture as part of the new generation, which counts Artuke, Telmo Rodriguez, Guimaro and Suertes del Marques amongst its group. Domaines Lupier’s 27 plots, over 18 hectares, have been fully organically farmed since the beginning.
Read MoreNavarra has long been dominated by co-operatives, producing reliable if largely unexciting wines at a price, of which the deeply coloured Rosado is the most famous. But here, in and around the small village of San Martin de Unx, in the hot, windy foothills of the Pyrenees, Domaines Lupier stands alone as the reference point for soulful, sumptuous, tense red Garnacha bottlings, produced from vineyards ranging from 400-800m in elevation. Rugged clay-limestone sites with Châteauneuf-style pebbles, at different aspects, altitudes and planting densities translate into ethereal, spice and mineral driven reds that are deeply reflective of their origins. We have rarely encountered soils so striking.
Recently Elisa and Enrique parted ways, deciding to sell the company to none other than Raul Perez, who in his words believed he should, “protect its future as one of the leading Garnacha estates in Spain. Lupier, with its stark limestone soils and amazing potential, has always been on my radar thanks to the quality of its wines.” Today we release the 2018s, blended but not made by Perez. As always, La Dama is the selection of five of the highest plots, while El Terroir is a low-yielding, complex expression of the rest.
Justerini & Brooks is delighted to take over distribution of Domaines Lupier exclusively in the UK.