With its 1,000 km of trails and the majestic limestone massif of Ordesa National Park, the region of Sobrarbe in the pre-Pyrenees of Huesca is a prime destination for nature lovers and mountain sports enthusiasts. Yet, until 60 years ago, the southern valleys of Sobrarbe —boasting a continental climate with Mediterranean influence— were also rich in vineyards, olive groves, and almond trees.
In Coscojuela de Sobrarbe, with just 30 houses, around 100,000 litres of wine were once produced to supply Bielsa, Broto, Benasque, and other villages in northern Huesca. "They came with mules to carry the wine in skins because it was sold in bulk and mainly for local consumption," recalls 71-year-old José Mari Olivera. "People here lived off grape growing. All the houses in these villages have old, imposing wine cellars; in my family's house alone, we produced 18,000 litres."
The construction of the reservoirs reshaped the landscape in villages like Coscojuela, Morillo de Tou —José Mari’s village— and especially Mediano, which was submerged beneath the water. Today, in the reservoir that bears the name of that village from yesteryear, only the tip of its church remains visible, even at full water capacity. Like José Mari’s, most of the families who once lived in this part of Sobrarbe relocated south to Barbastro or Monzón, while the few who stayed replaced traditional crops with cereal grains, which are easier to cultivate and less labour-intensive.
Now, only the memories of the older generation recall those times. José Mari’s son, Jorge Olivera, estimates that barely around 10 hectares of old vines or goblet-trained plants remain in Sobrarbe. In the 1970s, the wine industry moved to Barbastro, the capital of Somontano, where 4,000 hectares are farmed today. But Jorge, a free spirit, was determined to start his winemaking project on the land of his ancestors. In 2009, he planted vines from scratch outside of any DO or PGI boundaries, in Coscojuela de Sobrarbe, his mother’s village on the reservoir’s banks.
The beginnings were rather casual. A wine enthusiast since he came of age, Jorge juggled his work as a mechanical engineer in Barbastro with growing vines and making wine at home. Initially inspired by Ribera wines, he planted Tempranillo and Merlot, only to later discover that the Bordeaux variety was ill-suited to the area’s conditions. By 2016, he had grafted his Merlot with Moristel, a traditional red grape grown the region.
Jorge’s first vintage was in 2011, when he vinified the grapes in a stainless steel tank solely for family use. In 2015, he rented a vineyard in Aínsa, which he later gave up, but initially, he hadn’t considered establishing his own winery. However, Spain’s legal requirements forced him to adjust his plans. “I just wanted to age four or five barrels, like many small vignerons in France, but here that’s impossible. You need a fully registered facility for health regulations. Either you set up a winery to produce a certain volume, or the project is unfeasible —unless you’re selling bottles for 100 euros each.”
The construction of the small winery in 2021 was done by Jorge, with substantial help from his father, who oversaw the movement of 2,000 cubic meters of earth to lay the foundations of the project. Powered by solar energy, the winery includes a vinification area and an underground barrel room with a stone wall that filters water naturally from above. This water cools the space, maintaining a constant temperature and creating a serene atmosphere. The upper floor, which remains unfinished, may one day house a tasting room and social area; for now, the Oliveras use it as a workshop.
In 2022, after producing around 4,000 bottles annually, Jorge had the chance to rent a semi-abandoned vineyard in Liguerre de Cinca. He decided to take a five-year leave from his factory job to become a full-time vigneron, officially launching his wines. “If I’d kept balancing engineering and winemaking, it would have been hard on my family and my health,” admits Jorge, who is 39 and has two young children. “The wines probably wouldn’t have turned out the way I wanted them either.”
Aside from pruning, Jorge completed the 2023 harvest as a full-time winegrower, allowing him to closely manage his own three hectares of young vines as well as the seven hectares of rented vines, which range from 30 to 40 years old. He farms everything organically, with cover crops and biodynamic practices, and he’s pleased with the results. “With all my faults and mistakes, it was a generous year, and we’ll be releasing around 15,000 bottles.”
What he hadn’t anticipated, however, was the significant bureaucratic workload involved in producing and selling wine. It now demands more of his time than he’d expected. “When you come from another industry, you’re not aware of all that’s involved. I thought Europe had free trade, but it’s not like that at all. On top of that, the same demands are placed on small producers as on large ones.”
While Jorge admits he initially drank wines with more fruit and body, his preferences have shifted toward lighter styles over time. He regrets that local grape varieties were overlooked in favour of French grapes, which now dominate the vineyards in Somontano. “In Barbastro, Moristel was widely planted until the 1990s. Had this and other varieties like Parraleta been preserved, I believe the area could have developed a distinct identity.”
Jorge’s goal is to consolidate his project with 50% Moristel, a grape he appreciates for its moderate alcohol, good acidity, and ability to yield quality fruit —provided it is harvested early. “Because it produces a lot of grapes, the sugar distributes more evenly in the plant. If you harvest late, you get a flat wine with no tension,” explains Jorge, whose Moristel vines come from a massal selection he made from vineyards belonging to his neighbours. “I like fresh, fluid wines that are easy to drink.”
He also grows red Garnacha, which he often blends with Moristel to achieve his preferred style, and Syrah, a grape he works with since it was already in the vineyard he rented. As for Cabernet Sauvignon, which grows on some of his plots, Jorge usually gives it away to villagers, as it’s not a variety he likes and he lacks the capacity to vinify it.
Jorge has co-planted Parraleta alongside Moristel in one of his vineyards, though he admits he’s still learning how to manage this local red variety. "It’s not very productive and ripens late. In Somontano, some wines are made entirely from Parraleta, but I need to put more effort into understanding the grape,” he says. In 2024, despite having plenty of rain, the grapes were very small, yielding only 500 kg from 1,000 vines.”
On the white wine front, Jorge has a Chardonnay vineyard he planted in 2021 next to the family home. Soon, he plans to add half a hectare of Macabeo and Garnacha Blanca, hoping these varieties will eventually make up 35% of his output. “I don’t want to be limited to just one variety. If I had only Moristel, 2024 would have been a challenging harvest. The key is to have a bit of everything.”
Without formal training in winemaking or viticulture, Jorge admits that he relies heavily on intuition to guide his process, drawing from instinct and discussions with like-minded producers such as Adrián Alonso (El Serbal, Arlanza) and Jorge Temprado (Cuquero) from Zaragoza, who influence his day-to-day work.
From the beginning, he has followed organic practices and avoids chemical additions, with the exception of 2014 and 2015. "When you’re new, you want to make the best wine, and I was told that meant adding yeasts and sulfites," Jorge reflects. "But over time, I noticed those vintages felt tighter, with stronger fruit flavours. That’s why I decided to stick to the style I like. Plus, I felt no pressure —if a wine didn’t turn out well, it didn’t. I saw it as part of learning."
Now that winegrowing is his livelihood, he might feel some additional pressure, but it doesn’t appear to be a concern for him. "My family suggests I study to gain more control over the process, but after studying and working in engineering, I get easily overwhelmed by too much information," he admits. "The more you know, the more you feel compelled to manage. I’m not rigid in my ways, but I like to go at my own pace. Ultimately, my goal is just to create a wine free from flaws, in the same style of those that were once made in my village."
Jorge inspects every bunch of grapes that enters his cellar, describing this meticulous approach as "really crazy". He refrains from testing his wines in the laboratory, relying on minimal intervention, and only blends his wines after barrel ageing to avoid problems like volatile acidity. Beyond these practices, he doesn't follow any strict rules in his winemaking.
"In 2024, I used a lot of whole bunches because the wines will be bottle-aged for a year, but in other vintages I've destemmed and achieved more direct wines," he explains. "With whites, I usually avoid skin contact because I find it a bit overbearing, although in 2023 I experimented with a little maceration." He trusts his instincts and embraces flexibility, knowing that being a first-generation winemaker comes with the freedom of no set expectations.
Jorge's aversion to repetition means that he applies his rebellious spirit to the number of wines he releases, which varies from vintage to vintage. However, he has three core brands that he aims to produce consistently: Negiro, Gorrión and As Nabatas. His main buyers are small importers in France, where he sends 25% of his production, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark and Portugal. In Spain, he sells directly to a handful of restaurants with adventurous sommeliers looking for new wines, and soon through the domestic distributor Cuvée 3000.
The red Gorrión (1,850 bottles) is a blend of Garnacha with Macabeo. The proportions vary each year to maintain a lively, fresh style. His white wine is called As Nabatas, the Aragonese name for the rafts that were used in the past to transport logs down the river. With a current production of just 270 bottles, the 2022 vintage is a blend of 90% Macabeo and 10% Chardonnay. Jorge also produces As Forcas, made from Garnacha Blanca, although it is only released in certain years. "This variety needs to be picked at the right moment, to avoid an overly rich style of wine", he says. (Foto gama vinos)
Although Jorge never officially released his first attempt at Moristel, he filled 110 bottles of this 2018 vintage, which he vinified with ambient yeasts and no sulphites, using stainless steel fermentation. Despite his modest intentions, this experimental wine has retained its acidity and good energy, and hs aged gracefully.
This first effort evolved into Negiro (which means "origin" when read backwards in Spanish) in 2020. For this wine, he blended 200 litres of barrel-aged Moristel with 100 litres of Garnacha, balancing the 13.5-14% alcohol and fruitiness of Garnacha with the acidity and freshness of Moristel. Production for Negiro has now increased, with 1,100 bottles available in the 2022 vintage.
Carmín is not released every year, but Jorge plans to fill 1,750 bottles in the 2023 vintage, as he was able to dedicate himself fully to the project. Although labelled a red, it is a blend of 60% white grapes, 20% Moristel and 20% Garnacha, and shows a subtle change in style towards a clean, direct vin de soif with lightness, good acidity and crisp fruit.
He also makes several wines intermittently, depending on the suitability of each vintage. These include the Tempranillo O Charraire (360 bottles), an unnamed Syrah from the 2024 vintage and an ancestral Macabeo called Bubbles. All his wines are priced between €25 and €35, and Jorge is reluctant to categorise them too rigidly.
"I know I could sell the more limited ones at a higher price, but all my wines take a similar amount of effort to make," he explains. "It's not like I have a vineyard with just one bunch on each vine. Besides, the wine that ages best might turn out to be the cheapest", he says. "I don't want high ex-works prices; I want my wines to be enjoyed casually and be affordable for everyone." Personally, he tends to buy fewer high-end labels now, he says, preferring Spanish wines from innovative producers. “We need to demystify wine.”
Without a website and relatively quiet on social media, Jorge limits his presence at trade fairs, but in 2025 he will be at the Liquid Vins show in Barcelona and at some of his importers' events. Nor can he afford to worry too much about his labels, which he designed himself using a photo of his vineyard in Coscojuela, which he modified in Photoshop to include the names of his wines. "The designer quoted me €1,000 euros, and since I had other priorities at the time, I did it myself. It's not my dream label, but it works well on Instagram. Besides, I can customise them to add specific details that importers sometimes request," explains Jorge, who identifies the varieties on the labels with a consonant code (for example, As Nabatas, which blends Macabeo and Chardonnay, is 90MCB10CHRDNNY).
For now, he is not lacking in imagination and patience, knowing that he only has one chance per vintage. "I can't expect to know everything in three years, but I'm certainly not going to give up just because something might go wrong once in a while."
