Domaines Lupier

Founded by native Pamplonans Enrique Basarte and Elisa Ucar in 2008 as a vehicle for preserving Navarra’s patrimony of old-vine Garnacha in the great Garnacha villages of San Martín de Unx and Olite, Domaines Lupier had for almost 15 years been building its reputation in Spain as a leading source of expressively floral, juicy and succulent Garnacha—in a word, ‘Atlantic’. This seventeen-hectare domaine, the majority of whose dry- and organically farmed vines date to 1903, has now truly met its match in Raúl Pérez, whose ongoing search for a prime estate source of Garnacha ended with his acquisition of the property in 2022.

Extending over a number of different parcels varying in altitude from about 400m ASL to 750m over a basic substrate of clay-limestone with veins of slate and granite, the estate boasts what are thought to be the oldest vines in the ground in the village of San Martín de Unx. While not certified, the 100% head-pruned and dry-farmed bushvines are farmed in emphatically organic fashion, producing beautifully ripe and healthy but balanced and crunchy fruit.

There are two cuvées currently produced—‘El Terroir’, the delicious estate blend, and ‘La Dama’, a showstopping single-paraje bottling from the highest altitudes of the estate. Both wines are fermented in tank with significant stem inclusion and see elevage in a range of larger French barrels from 500 to 1500 liters, with about 10% of the cooperage new per year.