Viña Zorzal

Navarra / Spain

At A Glance

Winemaker(s)

Mikel Sanz, Fernando Perez de Obanos, Jorge Navascués

Appellation

Navarra DO

Varieties

Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano

Farming

Organic practicing

Their Story

“We rescue native Navarran grape varieties that had been almost forgotten about, producing single varietal wines based on the values of authenticity and simplicity, wines that speak for themselves and are affordable for everyone.”

The story of Viña Zorzal and their family estate began in 1989 when Antonio Sanz founded an estate just a few miles south of the edge of the Rioja with a dream of producing his own wines in Navarra. Antonio found the terroir to be quite unique as the arid conditions made it vitally important for the vines to dig their roots deep into the clay soils to find water in order to survive. With careful attention to the vines and building on the philosophy that true wine is created in the vineyard first, in 2007 Antonio’s three sons (Iñaki, Xabier, Mikel) joined him creating Viña Zorzal. Driven to restore the natural flora found in the area around the vines and with the the desire to rescue native Navarra grape varieties, Antonio’s three sons have taken their father’s work one step further working organically and focusing on site specific wines.

Mid Post Image
The estate's vines burrow deep below their stony topsoil into a subsoil of dense clay and limestone.

In the vineyard, Viña Zorzal practices with minimal intervention. All vineyard work is done by hand, native plants are used as ground cover, and they fertilize with compost to improve the vine’s resistance to diseases. These minimalistic practices are carried out in the winery as only native yeasts are used, spontaneous fermentation occurs, and no additions are used with the exception of minimal sulphur at bottling.

“Thus Viña Zorzal was born: with the focus firmly on terroir, a project to create wines from parcels that show the typical characteristics of such a special area.”