2015 Vina Otano Rioja Reserva 750 ml

Rioja’s summer of 2015 arrived like it had something to prove. Heat swept across the region, pushing early Tempranillo ripeness and keeping concerned growers’ eyes glued to the rising mercury. But July ushered in a milder end to the season, which let the grapes hang longer and develop beautiful complexity. Refreshing September rains sealed the deal on a fantastic vintage. 

When all was said and done, Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate ranked it among the best of the decade. All over Rioja, estates brought in berries with power and heft—and 100+ year-old estate Viña Otano brought in the richly concentrated Tempranillo, Graciano, and Mazuelo that they crafted into this dual-92-point dynamo. 

Winemaker Isaac Fernández has assuredly picked up a trick or two from his uncle, Mariano García, who has produced some thirty vintages of Vega Sicilia. The duo worked together for 20+ years at Mauro, their family bodega, and Isaac leveraged that invaluable experience to become one of “Spain’s brightest young winemaking stars,” according to Wine Spectator. 

At Viña Otano, he’s combined that know-how with grapes that were cultivated on sustainably farmed vines ranging from three decades to nearly a century old. The old vines yield small amounts of densely concentrated fruit with rich tannins. 

The Otano team hand-harvests the grapes into small bins, carefully pressing into French and American oak barrels and aging the wine for 18 months, then giving it another 30 months in bottle before release. That regimen encroaches on Gran Reserva-type treatment, and the result is a complex and structured old-vine Tempranillo—one that stands as a superb bargain from one of Rioja’s best vintages ever.