Cariñena
Zaragoza · Aragon
DO CariñenaDO CavaDO Urbezo3.530inhabitants
77first mention
1585wine documented
A municipality in the province of Zaragoza, capital of the Campo de Cariñena and of the DO of the same name. Of Roman origin (Carae), it was taken by Alfonso I the Battler in 1119 and resettled under a settlement charter granted in 1124.
First mention: Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia, 1st century AD) mentions the Carenses of the conventus of Caesaraugusta; their town, Carae, is identified with Cariñena, whose medieval name would derive from a Roman estate ending in -iniana.
The legend
16th centuryThe wine fountains for Philip II (1585)
In February 1585 Philip II was crossing Aragon on his way to the Cortes of Monzón with his children and his court. When he reached Cariñena, a town of more than a thousand households, the people of Cariñena welcomed him with a gesture that left its mark: they had set up in the town two fountains flowing with wine, one white and one red, from which anyone who wished could drink. It was noted by the Flemish archer Henry Cock, chronicler of the journey, who added that the land was ‘very fertile in wine’. More than four centuries later, Cariñena repeats the gesture: at its Grape Harvest Festival the Fuente de la Mora stops pouring water and pours wine into the square.
Alive today: Cariñena gives its name to the DOP Cariñena, established in 1932 and the oldest in Aragon; the municipality also lies in the Valle del Ebro area of the DO Cava. Every September the Grape Harvest Festival (of National Tourist Interest since 2025) treads the first grapes, offers the must to the Santo Cristo and makes wine flow from the Fuente de la Mora.
Wineries and their wines
- Campo Marín Blanco
- Campo Marín Crianza
- Campo Marín Tinto
- Marín Garnacha Blanca
- Marín Garnachas Viejas de Altura
- Marín Roble Viñas Viejas
- Marín Rosado
- Cava Particular Garnacha Blanc de Noir
- Julietta
- Marqués de Tosos Reserva
- Monte Ducay Gran Reserva
- Particular Cariñena
- Particular Garnacha
- Particular Garnacha Blanca
- Sierra de Viento ICE
Wine towns nearby