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Aragón: Exploring Spain’s wild frontier plus the wines to seek out

This dramatically beautiful, often challenging region is enjoying a quiet revival, with producers in the DOs of Cariñena, Campo de Borja and Calatayud drawing on a rich viticultural heritage and exploring indigenous varieties to produce some exciting wines.

Bigas Luna’s cult 1992 film Jamón Jamón opens with the pink and golden hues of a summer’s evening across Aragón’s vast plains and rugged barren mountains. We then see a close-up of crevices cut deep into hard dry land, empty and desolate.

The start of the shot is framed by a rusting Osborne bull, one of the iconic iron silhouettes dotted throughout the Spanish countryside, and it is closed by a young Javier Bardem busting out some bullfighting moves, a friend circling him with bull horns attached to a strange, trolley-like contraption.


Scroll down to see Beth Willard’s top 15 wines from Aragón


A stunning, sweeping vista bookended by decay and absurdity, capturing the beautiful, wild and untamed nature of the region, as well as its idiosyncrasies, improbabilities and renegades.


Walk on the wild side: Willard’s 15 wines from Aragón worth seeking out


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