Winemaker Notes
Ostatu Reserva is one of the purest, most transparent expressions of high altitude, mountain viticulture in Rioja Alavesa. The tempranillo grapes come from some of their oldest vineyards (50+ years) planted in the traditional goblet method, located on south-facing slopes on the western side of the village of Samaniego, over 600m above sea level, in the foothills of the majestic Sierra de Cantabria mountains. The soils are very poor, heavy calcareous clay with lots of stones and a limestone subsoil. The soils of Samaniego provide the backbone and structure for some of the most exciting and long-lived wines of Rioja. The climate is Mediterranean with strong Atlantic influences pushing in from the Cantabrian Sea, providing exceptional tension and movement in the wines.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A bouquet of black currant, cocoa butter, and lavender wafts from the glass. A layer of silky tannins supports well-integrated acidity and flavors of red and black berries, milk chocolate, licorice and marjoram that coalesce in a brighter-than-expected finish.
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Wine Spectator
Black fruits, wild herbs, savoury tannin, and balsamic notes with rich fruit feel in the mouth. Long and open on the finish.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.