We drove to the the southern end of the Navarra wine region to the town of Corella for our 11:30 a.m. tour of Bodegas Camilo Castilla, the oldest winery in this region. They specialize in sweet wine made from the “Muscat de petit grain” grape, a.k.a. small berry Muscat.

The bodega makes four wines with this grape: a young and aged that are fortified and a young and aged natural (non-fortified).

As I enjoy dessert wines, the older natural style was my focus. Called “Caprichio de Goya”, it is aged a total of seven years.

Three are spent in old barrels, some of which are up to 100 years old and range in size from 7,000 to 12,000 liters. While in the large barrels, they follow a Solera type system. Each year when it is time to bottle, ¼ of the amount of that years wine is left in the barrel. Then, the current year’s wine is added to top it off. One year is spent in demi-johns and the remaining three in standard barrels.

The use of demi-johns is rare but this bodega has done it since the beginning. Light oxidizes the wine through the class, developing complexity and concentration. I found it interesting they remain outside on a flat-top roof year long, regardless of the temperature.

Camilo Castilla is one of only 35 bodegas to produce communion wine (vino de misa). They also produce a dry rose from Granacha (Grenache) named “Pink” to satiate the local desire for a Navarrese Rosato. With upscale labeling and at just 4.20 euro per bottle, it is currently being test marketed in New York.

Another interesting item is they hand label the Caprichio de Goya because the non-standard 375 and 500ml bottle shapes are unstable in their automated bottling line.

Taste? It entices you to have more with it’s honeysuckle aroma and orangy, caramel and coffee flavors. You don’t really need any dessert with it as it is a dessert all by itself, but we happily enjoyed it with Crema de Catalonia!