Navarra covers the southern half of the province, where the last slopes of the Pyrenees descend to the basin of the Ebro, in five subzones running from the cool, wet Valdizarbe and Tierra Estella in the north to the hot, dry Ribera Baja in the south. That spread of climates within one appellation is its defining feature, and it explains why almost every grape variety grown in Spain can be found here.

For most of the twentieth century Navarra was known for rosado, a dark, dry rosé from Garnacha that was for a long time the best known Spanish example of the style. The 1980s and 1990s brought a wholesale replanting towards Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay, and the region has since become a reference point for Spanish Cabernet and Merlot. Old Garnacha vines on the stony southern slopes are now being treated as the asset they are, and Moscatel makes a sweet wine in the Ribera.