Only produced in excellent years, Finca Martelo is one of the best modern Riojas on the market. From Torre de Oña, a tiny bodega in Rioja Alavesa, the spectacular 2016 vintage is made up of Tempranillo (94%) with small amounts of Mazuelo, Garnacha and Viura. This 95-point old-vine, high-altitude gem is a ‘textbook reserva’, says Decanter.
Finca Martelo is a great example of Rioja’s greatest gift to the wine world – the tradition of releasing mature wines to market. Aged for four years in neutral American and French oak barrels and four years in bottle, this wine is in a wonderful space. It’s super food friendly and will pair well with any meat or vegetable on the braai or roasted in the oven. Expect bright, spicy and floral notes, dark fruit, a silky palate and glossy, chalky tannins.
Since acquiring the property in 1995, La Rioja Alta’s aim with Torre de Oña was to craft terroir-driven wines from the Alavesa sub-region, close to the mountains. After a decade of in-depth soil study, they released a wine from a selection of their finest parcels called Finca Martelo.
‘La Rioja Alta has a long-standing reputation for producing some of the region’s best, most traditionally made wines, across the range,’ says Neal Martin. And with Alejandro López at the helm, one of Decanter’s ‘Top 10 Best Revelation Winemakers’, this is a boutique bodega to keep your eye on.
Tasting Notes:
Torre de Oña Finca Martelo Reserva 2016
‘The 2016 Finca Martelo comes from one of the longest harvests in their history. It’s a blend of Tempranillo with 6% other varieties, Mazuelo, Garnacha and even white Viura intermixed in the field with a south-facing slope on very white soils. The grapes were hand picked, destemmed and crushed, then put through a seven-day cold soak before fermenting (uncrushed) in stainless steel followed by malolactic that took 98 days. The wine matured in used oak barrels, 80% American and 20% French, for 24 months with four traditional rackings. This wine has a separate winery with smaller vats for each of the plots, and the wine was kept in vat for a further six months before it was bottled in June 2020. It has 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.57. It has a lively and young color and a very expressive nose (the cold soak and the semi-carbonic maceration), and there is a strong spiciness despite the fact they never use any new oak. It’s mellow and round, with glossy tannins and a very gentle mouthfeel, with good complexity and those chalky tannins. This is a young and more modern wine than the range from la Rioja Alta. This is a wine that was developed between 2005 and 2012, and they saw the mix of barrels worked better than a single origin.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 95/100
‘Part of the La Rioja Alta group since 1995, Torre de Oña in Rioja Alavesa has divided its vineyards into subplots, studying and characterising each one and making and ageing wine from each one separately. The grapes for this reserva come from 60-year-old vines and were harvested by hand. The 2016 vintage saw optimal weather conditions during one of the longest harvests in the winery’s history. Sarah Jane Evans MW: Rich, enticing and juicy, with lot of sweet spice, ripe fruit and earthy notes. Savoury and appetising in the mouth. A great wine that’s bound to live for many years. Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW: Silky and juicy, layered with oak, pomegranate, redcurrant conserve and basil. Complex and long. Pierre Mansour: With hints of leather and spice, and ripe, textured tannins, this is a textbook reserva. Medium length.’ – Decanter, 95/100
