El Mojón 2023

A balanced, garnet-colored gem, El Mojón exemplifies the quiet winemaking renaissance currently underway in Spain’s wild Aragón region. Fruit-dense yet complex, it offers layers of toasty spice, rosemary and dark chocolate that punch well above their price point.

Landlocked in northeast Spain, Aragón is not an area for winemakers who are faint of heart.

Once you venture 30 or so minutes away from Zaragoza—Spain’s fifth biggest city and the area’s capital—the terrain broadens and turns rural, then becomes suddenly rugged, pitched with rocks and parched. Windswept, summers are scorching and winters are bitter cold. Elevations zig and zag from more than 3,000 feet high at the region’s edges to about 650 feet near the area’s middle.

Historically, this untamed stretch was dominated by large wine producers who, unsure how to approach the harsh conditions, ripped out old vines and replanted internationally known varieties, and cranked out over-manipulated bulk wine that did little more than provide a cheap buzz.

But things are changing. Slowly but surely, producers are refocusing on native grapes like Garnacha, Carinena (the Spanish version of Carignan) and Tempranillo, and are leaning into the terroir to create more nuanced bottles. And because the area is working against a somewhat negative reputation, much of these new wave selections can be found for quite reasonable prices (for now).

Case in point: Cooperativa del Campo de Maluenda, an association of 650 winegrowers newly bent on showcasing local flavor with wines that always overdeliver. El Mojón—“the milestone”—is meant to mark the wine evolution everyone at Maluenda has embarked upon. The winery says it is one of their “cellar's best ambassadors.”

A blend of Garnacha and Tempranillo aged two months in French and American oak barrels, it offers pleasant aromas of dark fruit, tobacco, earth and herbs. The palate is elegant, offering a luscious mouthful of plum, raspberry and blackberry, accented by spice and dark chocolate, and held in by velvet-soft tannins.

Hurry for yours and be the first to discover this area's real potentional.