Piqueras High Altitude Organic Garnacha

Ok, so we’ve been banging on for a couple of years about how good this wine is. In fact we could waffle on all day about this seriously delicious, seriously high value organic Spanish red.

Don’t worry if you’re a total novice when it comes to Spanish wine – just know that this is a big, rich, dark and inky coloured red that’s medium to full bodied in style and will float the boats of those that like their full flavoured reds like Shiraz, Zinfandel or Cabernet.

Organically produced and imported into NZ by Master of Wine Steve Bennett. It’s an absolute stonker for the money it really is.

The grape is actually called Garnacha Tintorera (known as Alicante Bouschet in France) and it’s a grape that’s a little bit different from the rest. Peel back the skin from this grape and you’ll see its got red flesh, unlike other grapes which have clear flesh. This helps to make big, rich, juicy reds that are dark and inky in colour.

The Piqueras’ are a fourth generation Spanish winemaking family nestled away in Almansa, south east Spain, crafting seriously good wine for over 100 years.

Their family owned vineyards sit a whopping 2,500 metres above sea level and with high sunshine hours and low rainfall the vines, planted on stony, lime rich soils, work their arses off to produce grapes full of intense flavours. There’s even an organic sheep farm on the property where they let their fluffy little friends roam free to help keep the plant life low and the natural fertiliser high!

You’ll happily slurp this by itself (trust us, we’ve knocked back a couple of tasting bottles no worries) but if you’re pairing it with a feed then think steaks, spicy snarlers, grilled lamb chops, you get the drift!