Esteban Martín, White, 2022

Vintage report

Aragón baked in 2022, just like most of southern and central Spain — a summer of relentless heat and drought that put serious pressure on yields but concentrated everything that remained on the vine. It was not an easy growing season. Water stress arrived early and stayed late, and growers without access to older, deep-rooted vines really felt it. Those with dry-farmed bush vines in Calatayud and Campo de Borja, where Garnacha has been at home for centuries, were better placed: roots already reaching deep, fruit already small and serious. The harvest came in early and relatively compact.

The wines that resulted are dense, sun-drenched, and direct — Garnacha showing ripe, almost juicy dark fruit with real structural grip rather than the flab you sometimes get in very hot years. Cariñena, both the grape and the DO, delivered some of the most concentrated versions in recent memory. These are wines built to last, though many are drinking well right now with a bit of air. Expect the top expressions to hold and develop until 2030 and beyond, while the more approachable mid-range bottles are at their best over the next three to five years.