Why it matters
The producer
A notarised deed from 1647 is not a founding myth. It is a legal document. Chivite holds one, confirming vineyard ownership in Navarra before the Enlightenment reached Spain. Eleven generations have worked the same land since then, and the family has been exporting wine continuously since 1860, longer than most European wine regions have had formal appellations.
Finca Legardeta, the estate's home vineyard, sits in Villatuerta, a small farming town 40 kilometres southwest of Pamplona in the Tierra Estella subzone of Denominación de Origen Navarra. The estate covers 245 hectares with 103 planted, farmed at an average altitude of 450 metres. The flagship range is Colección 125, launched in 1985 and built around a lees-aged Chardonnay and a barrel-aged Tempranillo Reserva. In 1992, the King of Spain awarded the Chivite family the Order of Agricultural Merit for their contributions to the country's wine industry.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Tierra Estella is the western subzone of Navarra, where the climate carries Atlantic influence from the Bay of Biscay before warming into the more arid conditions of the Ebro valley to the south. At Villatuerta, 450 metres of altitude lowers average temperatures compared to the hotter Navarran plains, and that difference is legible in the wine. Chardonnay from this elevation keeps its acidity through harvest rather than losing it to summer heat. Tempranillo develops fruit at a slower pace, which gives the Reserva the raw material for meaningful time in barrel.
The Tierra Estella label on a bottle tells a buyer two things: this is western Navarra, where Atlantic weather shapes the growing season, and the wines are built from altitude rather than from the irrigation-dependent flatlands further east. Both the white and the red in the Colección 125 range are products of that elevation.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
At 6,000 vines per hectare and 450 metres altitude, the vineyard density and elevation work together. Higher altitude slows the growing season, giving grapes more time to develop flavour without accelerating sugar accumulation. Denser planting reduces what each vine must support, directing more of the plant's energy into fewer clusters.
In the cellar, the two Colección 125 flagships take different routes. The Blanco spends nine months on lees in Allier oak barrels after fermentation. Lees contact adds weight and a creamy texture. The Allier oak contributes a lightly spiced, faintly nutty character without overwhelming the grape's own citrus and stone fruit character. Nine months is long enough to integrate the oak but short enough to keep the wine's freshness.
Wines to know
The range in view
Three ranges carry the Chivite name from Finca Legardeta: Colección 125, Finca Legardeta, and Las Fincas.
Colección 125 is where the house concentrates its editorial argument. The Blanco is 100% Chardonnay, aged nine months on lees in Allier oak, rich in texture with balanced acidity and oak that has integrated into the fruit rather than sitting above it. The Rosado is Garnacha-based, a grape the region grows in quantity and Chivite uses here for the pink tier of its flagship line. The Reserva is 100% Tempranillo, aged 15 to 18 months in barrel depending on the vintage. It carries the dark fruit and firm tannin profile that extended oak ageing gives Tempranillo, with elevation-preserved acidity keeping the wine from becoming heavy.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Colección 125 Blanco. It is 100% Chardonnay from Finca Legardeta, aged nine months on lees in Allier oak barrels, and it is the wine that most clearly demonstrates what Chivite does at its best: altitude-preserved acidity, texture built from lees contact, and oak that has been absorbed rather than applied. The glass is rich and creamy without being heavy, with a mineral finish that keeps the wine interesting through the last sip. For a buyer who knows Navarra as a rosé region, this bottle is a recalibration.