From the atlas
Bodegas Alto Moncayo
At A Glance
Appellation: Campo de Borja, Aragón, northeast Spain Grape: Garnacha (with Syrah in the entry wine) Founded: 2002 Winemaker: Chris Ringland (Australia) Co-founder: Jorge Ordóñez Vineyard: 92 hectares across three localities, 500 to 800 metres elevation Vine age: 40 to 100 years old Range: Gruñón, Veraton, Aquilón
The Producer
Bodegas Alto Moncayo farms old Garnacha in the foothills of the Moncayo mountain range, in the Campo de Borja appellation of Aragón. The estate was built from scratch in 2002 by Spanish importer Jorge Ordóñez and Australian winemaker Chris Ringland. Ordóñez knew the commercial routes; Ringland knew how to coax concentration from old vines without bruising them. Together they looked at an appellation historically known for cooperative bulk wine and decided to do something the local industry had not: hold the Garnacha back, press it gently, age it long, and bottle it under a single estate name.
The three wines they make, Gruñón, Veraton, and Aquilón, all come from Garnacha grown high above the valley floor. Aquilón, the top wine, draws from vines between 60 and 100 years old and spends two years in new French oak. It was among the first Spanish wines to receive a 100-point score from Robert Parker, and it arrived at that score while the bodega was still young and the appellation was still largely unknown outside Spain.
Place
Campo de Borja is an appellation in the far west of Aragón, in the rain shadow of the Moncayo massif. The Moncayo massif forces Atlantic fronts to shed their moisture before they cross the range, so the vineyards on its lower slopes and foothills receive cool, dry continental air in winter and warm Mediterranean heat in summer. The temperature swings are sharp enough to slow ripening through the growing season and pull natural acidity into the grapes.
Garnacha is the dominant variety in the appellation, covering 60 percent of the 3,265 planted hectares and defining both the range architecture and the house style at Alto Moncayo. The estate's own parcels sit at 500 to 800 metres, well above the appellation's general floor of 350 metres, and that elevation distinction shapes every bottle. Higher altitude means a longer growing season, lower yields from stressed old vines, and Garnacha that reaches full ripeness without losing the acidity that keeps the wines from feeling flat.
Soil And Site
Two distinct soil types run through the Alto Moncayo parcels. The lower elevation plots carry red clay, pebble stones, and slate, all materials that retain daytime heat and drain quickly after rain. The higher foothills glacis soils shift to limestone, marl, dolomite, quartzite, and slate, a more complex geology that contributes mineral lift to the wines grown there. The variation across three localities at different elevations means the estate draws on genuinely different ground, and the winemaking separates those parcels rather than blending them early.
Story
When Ordóñez and Ringland founded the bodega in 2002, Campo de Borja was not a destination for fine wine buyers. Its Garnacha was old and often extraordinary in the vineyard, but the cooperative model that had shaped the appellation for generations pointed away from estate bottling and toward bulk sales to négociants and blenders across the border. The commercial logic was straightforward: sell by volume, not by name.
The founding decision at Alto Moncayo ran directly against that logic. Ringland brought conviction developed through working with old-vine Grenache and Shiraz that old vines, handled carefully, could produce wines of international weight. He arrived in Aragón with a conviction that the Garnacha on these slopes, from vines that had been growing for half a century or more, deserved the same treatment: small open fermenters, basket pressing, long ageing, and a label that carried the bodega's name rather than disappearing into a bulk tank.
The gamble took time to resolve. Within a few years of founding, Aquilón received a 100-point score from Robert Parker, the first wine from Aragón to reach that mark. The score did not change what was in the bottle. It changed who started asking for it.
Vineyards And Cellar
Vine age is the governing principle across all three wines. The estate holds 92 hectares across three localities, with the general vineyard age running from 40 to 80 years old and the oldest parcels, those designated for Aquilón, reaching 60 to 100 years. Older vines send roots deeper, produce fewer grapes per bunch, and concentrate flavour into a smaller volume of fruit. At this elevation, with the growing season extended by altitude, that concentration comes with naturally lower sugar accumulation than old-vine Garnacha from flatter, hotter zones.
In the cellar, Ringland uses small open fermenters and basket pressing for gentle extraction. This approach protects the skins and seeds from the mechanical violence of a pneumatic press and keeps the tannins soft rather than extracted hard. Gruñón's Garnacha goes through a two-day cold pre-fermentation soak before fermenting at 25 to 30 degrees Celsius; the Syrah component is whole-bunch fermented at the cooler range of 20 to 22 degrees, preserving floral lift and spice. Both varieties are vinified separately before blending.
Ageing time scales with wine level. Veraton spends 16 months in a mix of American and French oak, 80 percent new and 20 percent second use. Aquilón goes 24 months in new French oak only. Both periods are long enough to integrate the oak into the fruit rather than leaving it standing above the wine.
Wines
The three wines form a clear progression from younger blended fruit to old-vine single-variety depth.
Gruñón blends Garnacha with Syrah from younger parcels. The separate vinification, cold soak for the Garnacha and whole-bunch fermentation for the Syrah, means the finished wine holds both warm dark fruit and spiced floral character. The palate is powerful, with big sweet tannins, a creamy mouthfeel, and a round, extended, silky finish. It is the most immediately approachable wine in the range.
Veraton is 100 percent Garnacha from vines aged 30 to 50 years, grown at 550 metres in Borja and up to 850 metres in the Tabuenca area. The extra vine age and the oak commitment, 16 months in predominantly new American and French barrels, produce a wine with more density. The appearance is deep red with a scarlet rim. The aromas run to balsamic notes, chocolate, and black fruits; the palate is warm and expressive with a long finish.
Aquilón is 100 percent Garnacha from the oldest parcels, vines aged 60 to 100 years at the same Borja and Tabuenca elevations. Small-tank vinification and basket pressing give way to 24 months in new French oak. The wine shows a deep cherry-red colour. The aroma profile is complex: toasted and mineral notes alongside fruit jam, roasted coffee, and toffee undertones. Aquilón is the estate's prestige cuvée and the wine that first drew international attention to the bodega.
In The Glass
Garnacha from this part of Aragón, grown old and high, has a distinctive profile that runs through all three wines. The fruit is dark rather than red, inclining toward black cherry, plum, and blackberry rather than the lighter strawberry and raspberry register associated with Garnacha from warmer, lower zones. Balsamic lift threads through the mid-palate, a quality that comes from the combination of altitude, vine age, and the cool continental nights that carry aromatic compounds through to harvest.
The tannins at Alto Moncayo are ripe and sweet rather than angular. Ringland's basket pressing keeps the extraction gentle, and the long ageing in oak works the tannins toward a rounded, creamy texture rather than a firm, grippy one. Gruñón shows this most directly, its mouthfeel almost plush against the dark fruit. Veraton adds more aromatic complexity and a longer finish, with the balsamic and chocolate notes becoming more defined as the altitude Garnacha asserts itself through the oak. Aquilón arrives with intensity: the concentration of century-old vines expressed through two years of French oak leaves coffee, mineral, and preserved dark fruit on the finish.
A Bottle To Understand It
Veraton is the place to start. It is 100 percent Garnacha from vines aged 30 to 50 years at 550 to 850 metres, and it shows the altitude character of the estate more clearly than Gruñón while sitting at a price point accessible enough to drink without ceremony. The 16 months in predominantly new oak have been absorbed into the fruit: the aromas open on balsamic lift and dark chocolate, the palate is warm and expressive, and the finish extends without heaviness. This is what Campo de Borja Garnacha tastes like when the vines are old enough to give concentration and the cellar is patient enough not to rush it.
Anecdote
Aquilón had been in barrel for two years when the score arrived. Campo de Borja was an appellation that most international buyers could not locate on a map. Its cooperative wineries had spent decades selling Garnacha in bulk, filling containers for négociants across the Pyrenees who would blend it away. Then Robert Parker gave Aquilón 100 points, the first wine from Aragón to receive that mark from him, and the score landed on a bodega that had been open for only a few years, made by an Australian in a region where no Australian had previously made wine. Ordóñez had built the commercial relationships; Ringland had brought the basket press and the small fermenters and the patience to leave Garnacha alone for two years in new French oak. The century-old vines had been there the whole time, delivering fruit into cooperative tanks. After the score, they were delivering it somewhere else.
Final Word
The Garnacha is old, the elevation is real, and the winemaking is careful. Veraton is the wine to begin with; Aquilón is the wine to return to.
Sources
- https://bodegasaltomoncayo.com/en/
- https://bodegasaltomoncayo.com/en/producto/aquilon/
- https://bodegasaltomoncayo.com/en/producto/veraton/
- https://www.enterwine.com/en/world-of-wine/wineries/alto-moncayo
- https://chrisringland.com/bodegas-alto-moncayo/
- https://vinosdo.wine/denominaciones/d-o-campo-de-borja/
- https://bodegasaltomoncayo.com/en/producto/grunon/