95% Tempranillo with small amounts (5%) of Mazuelo, Garnacha and Viura and spends 24 months in 80% American and 20% French oak barrels. It represents a departure to a slightly more modern style for this bastion of traditional winemaking. The results are brilliant and they see this as being one of their prestige wines in years to come.

www.torredeona.com

Owned by La Rioja Alta S.A. since the purchase from D. Leandro Vazquez in 1994. These are the words that define the Torre de Oña winery, which we wish to share and enjoy with you. Concepts forged since 1995, when La Rioja Alta, S.A. led this exciting project with the aim of making an excellent quality wine incorporating all the personality of the best vine plots in the prestigious Rioja Alavesa area. A unique location that we were convinced provided clear potential for making a great modern wine, capable of transmitting – as with the great “chateaux” – the exclusive characteristics of a privileged estate. Since then, and always focused on the continual improvement in our wine, we have made important changes to our vineyards and winery. But it has been in recent years, more specifically since 2005, that we started to pay very special attention to the different plots that make up the estate, and the separate production and maturing of each sub-plot, evaluating the soil and determining where the best quality grapes grow, only then collecting harvests that meet the quality standards for an important international wine.

2014 Martelo Reserva Tasting Note 2014 Martelo Reserva Producer Tasting Note

2015 Martelo Reserva Tasting Note 2015 Martelo Reserva Producer Tasting Note

• Garnacha

  Grenache (pronounced gren-aash) (Spanish: Garnacha, IPA: [ɡarˈnatʃa]; is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditions such as those found in Spain, the south of France, and California's San Joaquin Valley. It is generally spicy, berry-flavored and soft on the palate with a relatively high alcohol content, but it needs careful control of yields for best results. It tends to lack acid, tannin and color, and is usually blended with other varieties such as Syrah, Carignan, Tempranillo and Cinsaut.
  Grenache is the dominant variety in most Southern Rhône wines, especially in Châteauneuf-du-Pape where it is typically over 80% of the blend. In Australia it is typically blended in "GSM" blends with Syrah and Mourvèdre. Grenache is also used to make rosé wines in France and Spain, notably those of the Tavel district in the Côtes du Rhône. And the high sugar levels of Grenache have led to extensive use in fortified wines, including the red vins doux naturels of Roussillon such as Banyuls, and as the basis of most Australian fortified wine.

• Mazuelo Alternate: Carigna

  Mazuelo (also known as Carignan, Bovale Grande, Cariñena, Samsó, and Carignane) is a red Spanish/French wine grape variety that is widely planted throughout the western Mediterranean and around the globe. Along with Aramon, it was once considered one of the main grapes responsible for France's wine lake and was a substantial producer in jug wine production in California's Central Valley.
  The popularity of Carignan was largely tied to its ability to produce very large yields in the range of 200 hl/ha (11 tons/acre). The vine does face significant viticultural hazards with significant sensitivity to several viticultural hazards including rot, powdery mildew, downy mildew, and grape worms. Mazuelo is a late budding and ripening grape which requires a warm climate in order to achieve full physiological ripeness. The vine also develops very thick stalk around the grape clusters which makes mechanical harvesting difficult. It has an upright growth habit and can be grown without a trellis.

• Tempranillo Alternate: Tinto Fino

  A high quality Red Wine Grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.
  Tempranillo based wines tend to have a spicy, herby, tobacco-like character accompanied by ripe strawberry and red cherry fruits. It produces fresh, vibrantly fruit driven "jovenes" meant for drinking young. However Tempranillo really comes into its own when oak aged, as with the top Riojas where its flavours seem to harmonise perfectly with both French and American oak, producing rich, powerful and concentrated wines which can be extraordinarily long-lived.
  
  In Ribera del Duero it generally sees less oak - the exception being Vega Sicilia where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then aged for an astonishing 7 years in oak and is unquestionably one of the world`s greatest wines.
  

• Viura

  No Information Currently Available!

Medium-high depth, dark-cherry red with an intense garnet-red rim. Clean and bright. Intense aromas, typical of this Rioja Alavesa terroir, with notes of ripe berries (blackberries, blueberries and raspberry jam) against a background of spices, clove, aniseed, incense, tobacco, and mocha. Mild attack with medium body and nice structure. It is well-balanced with sweet tannins. A wine that stands out for its broad and silky aftertaste, where notes of ripe fruit and sweet spices complement those from painstaking barrel ageing.

Who	Score	Start	End	Notes
Luis Gutierrez www.eRobertParker.com Feb 2018	92/100	2018	2022	The new wine at Torre de Oña is the 2012 Martelo, mostly Tempranillo (but always with some Mazuelo, Garnacha and even Viura) from a single-vineyard slope containing the older vines of the estate, which names the wine. It fermented with natural yeasts and went through malolactic in new barrels, then it matured in used barriques (80% American) for 24 months. This was almost an experimental wine, with the elegant and balanced profile I see in the 2014s, with a little more ripeness and concentration, but nevertheless an impressive debut. The nose is changing, losing the primary character and developing further complexity. The tannins are fine, and the texture and mouthfeel are soft but with clout. 40,000 bottles were filled in March 2016. This new wine will only be produced in certain vintages, cooler years with gentle tannins that allow for long and balanced aging.
Tim Atkin MW www.timatkin.com	94/100	2018	2030	The vines in this small two-hectare plot, made as a separate wine for the first time in 2012, are all over 100 years’ old. The result is a wine with impressive focus and concentration, dense black fruits, refreshing acidity and the texture to integrate the 100% new French oak. 2018-30