#WinePW: Along “The Way” with Wine and Food from Navarra Spain
by Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator
Navarra is an up and coming wine region in Northern Spain located in the western part of the Pyrenees Mountains that form a natural boundary between France and Spain with the Basque mountains further to the West. Navarra butts up against France to the north and to the south is Rioja, famous for Tempranillo.
To the far west is coastal Galicia, famous for Albarino and the terminus for the Camino de Santiago, or “The Way” which winds through northern Spain as well as France and Portugal.
Pilgrims on the Camino, past, and present enjoy the regional wine and cuisine along “The Way” and many returns with an increased appreciation and interest in these wines.
While wine from Rioja has generally been available and known in the United States, recently there’s been an explosion of imports of Albarino from Galicia, and now it is Navarra’s turn to be discovered by those on and off the Camino.
This month’s Wine Pairing Weekend crew took on the task of sampling one or more bottles of wine from Navarra and paired them with either regional cuisine or another menu inspired by the wines. The 15 participants this month sampled reds, whites, and rose wines ranging from the traditional reds of the region like Tempranillo and whites like Viura to mainstays of the global wine market like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.