The wines of La Rioja Alta have been ‘fan favorites’ around here for quite some time, with the majority of the rather impressive sales numbers coming from their La Rioja Alta Rioja Reserva Viña Ardanza and Gran Reserva 904. But this group owns three other estates as well, one in Rias Baixas to make Albariño, one in Ribera del Duero, and another separate estate in Rioja Alavesa called Torre de Oña. The Torre de Oña estate hasn’t gotten near as much attention over the years, but that may be about to change as they have significantly kicked up their game with a new project.
The main La Rioja Alta estate was founded in 1890. But more than a century later, in 1995, they decided to create a new estate in the cooler, higher, and arguably more prestigious Rioja Alavesa. Here the intent was to employ a ‘chateau’ concept, controlling the viticulture and making wine from their estate grapes. We’ve had interesting efforts on occasion from Torre de Oña but nothing really groundbreaking. All the while, they were studying the specific parcels on the estate that produced the best grapes with the intent of bottling a single vineyard effort that best reflected their unique terroir.
While that doesn’t sound all that innovative, the ‘chateau’ type operation wasn’t all that common in Rioja until recently. Now folks like Artadi and Telmo Rodriguez are lobbying to have even more specific delineations to village areas and specific parcels. In any case, the folks at Torre de Oña decided that, in 2012, it was time to pull the trigger on their first single vineyard bottling from the estate. The reviews were encouraging for seemed something of an experimental first-swing. It got supportive words and a 92 point score from Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutierrez.
The winery skipped 2013 but deemed the conditions near perfect in 2014 to create the sequel, and what a revelation it turned out to be! Since the Advocate review explains all of the technical details, we’ll defer a moment. From Luis Gutierrez, “The 2014 Martelo is produced with the grapes from their oldest vines, mostly Tempranillo (95%, the balance Mazuelo, Garnacha and Viura), put through a cold soak after alcoholic fermentation then in barrique for a slow malolactic fermentation of 96 days. This was followed by an élevage in 80% American and 20% French oak barrels for two years, during which time it was racked four times…
“It has incredible aromatics with surprising notes of beef blood, iron and meat with tons of fruit, as Martelo is the vineyard where they find more fruit. This is a very elegant, aromatic and fine Rioja (they decided to bottle it in a Burgundy bottle) and it’s not a coincidence, because that is what they are looking for. The palate follows the same path of finesse, balance and freshness. A very impressive Rioja. Bravo!…94 points”
Bravo, indeed. The Burgundian comparisons hold remarkably true. Texturally, this is silky, elegant, feminine (can we say that any more?), and supremely satisfying. The fruit leans a little bluer than a ‘real’ Burgundy but the finesse, tender mouth feel, and fresh undercurrent of the palate seduces and the delicate spice and mineral tones add complexity. Thoroughly delicious right out of the gate, and a bottle one won’t want to end. The comparison with Burgundy kind of stops there because, in reality, you would be hard pressed to find a Burgundy as good as the Torre de Ona Rioja Reserva Finca Martino 2014 for this kind of price. Simply gorgeous.