CW Weekly Pour Report

Some bottles make you stop for a second.

Not because they’re loud.

Because they’re not.

Garnacha from Navarra usually leans a little warmer, a little fuller. The 2022 Matías Michelini GarnaCHE Navarra goes the other way. It’s lighter, more lifted, and feels like it’s holding something back on purpose. In the best way. And for only $13.99 for six bottles or more, $14.99 for one to five bottles (regular price $21.99), it’s the perfect addition to your home collection.

This comes from Matías Michelini, an Argentine winemaker who tends to do less, not more. Earlier picking, less extraction, minimal intervention. You actually get a sense of the place instead of the process. And here, working in Navarra, that approach really shows.

A Quick Note

Michelini built his reputation in Mendoza, but projects like this are what make him interesting. Same mindset, different soil. Old vines, thoughtful farming, nothing pushed too far. It all feels intentional without feeling worked over.

What You’ll Taste

Fresh red fruit right away. Strawberry, raspberry, a little spice hanging in the background. There’s a brightness that keeps it moving, but it never feels thin or sharp. It lands right where you want it.

Give it a few minutes in the glass, or even a slight chill, and it opens up even more. Nothing dramatic, just a little more detail showing through.

What The Pros Are Saying

“The 2022 Matías Michelini GarnaCHE is a different expression of the lieu-dit El Corral de los Altos in the village of Fitero, produced by Matías Michelini from Argentina with Garnacha from a 0.84-heactare plot. It fermented in a 4,000-liter oak vat and 1,000-liter plastic bins with indigenous yeasts and matured in three used 500-liter oak barrels, a 1,200-liter Flextank egg and two 600-liter concrete eggs for 12 months. This is quite Mediterranean, with notes of aromatic herbs, and it's the one Garnacha with more oak, spicy and smoky. It's ripe, with 13.9% alcohol, over 1% higher than the previous year, with good freshness and acidity reflected in a pH of 3.3 and 5.55 grams of acidity. It's from a warmer, more Mediterranean year and has more exuberance and a round palate with some oak flavor and some tannins that might require a little more time in bottle. 5,200 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2024.”

93 points — Wine Advocate

What It’s For

This is an easy bottle to reach for, and an even easier one to go back to. Pizza that somehow turned into the whole night. Something simple off the grill. A second bottle that shows up without anyone really calling for it.

It fits because it doesn’t try to take over the table.

Keep a few around, don’t overthink it, and let it do its thing.

Because yeah…sometimes the best decisions are the POUR ones.