Bodegas Borsão

CAMPO DE BORJA ‘The empire of Garnacha.’ ‘The heartland of Garnacha.’ Slightly corny PR lines, perhaps, but you can understand why both the region and the producer of the first wine on this tour of Iberian Garnacha might have adopted them. Just to the west of the city of Zaragoza, Campo de Borja is right in the heart of the province of Aragón in northeast Spain – ampelographers believe Garnacha originated here. And the variety retains a disproportionate grip on the local vineyards today: more than two-thirds of the total 7,500ha of vines in the Campo de Borja DO are devoted to Garnacha; between them, the 375 member wine-growers of the Borsão cooperative have a third of them.

Given the imperial scale of their production, what’s always been remarkable about Bodegas Borsão (and Campo de Borja more generally) is the consistent quality of its Garnacha wines – and their prices. Like producers in other Spanish wine categories that have been undervalued in recent history, such as Cava and Sherry, Borsão’s line-up of supermarket own-labels regularly competes for unofficial titles of the world’s best-value wines, while the straight Garnacha it produces under its own name consistently offers a remarkable level of gushing, brambly fruitiness per pound.

Borsão, Garnacha, Campo de Borja, Aragón 2018 88 £6.89-£8 Amps, Blas ar Fwyd, Highbury Vintners, Noble Green, NY Wines of Cambridge

Year in, year out, one of the best-value reds around – a classic, no-fuss, fruit-forward Garnacha with tumble-out-the-glass, vivid brambly fruit, a touch of dried plum and paprika and smooth, supple tannins.

Drink 2020-2021 Alcohol 13.5%