Finca la Mata
"Smoke-accented blue fruit and violet pastille aromas, along with hints of incense and licorice...flavors smoothly blend richness and vivacity and pick up a spicy nuance as the wine stretches out." —
Josh Raynolds, Vinous Media
Appellation
Ribera del Duero D.O.
Grape(s)
100% Tinta del Pais (Tempanillo) from 60-85 year-old vines
Altitude/Soil
900 meters / sandy clay with abundant gravel
Farming Methods
Practicing Organic (not certified)
Harvest
Hand harvested into small boxes, bunches hand sorted at the winery again prior to processing
Production
Grapes were destemmed and lightly crushed prior to fermentation with native microbes, 2 weeks of skin maceration
Aging
Aged for 10 months in a combination of 90% French and 10% American
Suggested Retail Price
$25
Finca la Mata
2015
91 (VM)
| 91 |
Vinous Media |
(aged for eight months in 80 percent French and 20 percent American oak barrels, one-third of them new) Inky purple. Smoke-accented blue fruit and violet pastille aromas, along with hints of incense and licorice. Sappy black raspberry and blueberry flavors smoothly blend richness and vivacity and pick up a spicy nuance as the wine stretches out. Closes smooth, long and appealingly sweet, featuring sneaky tannins and an echo of ripe blue fruit.
2020 - 2025 |
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Finca la Mata
2016
91 (VfC) ** (WP)
| 91 |
View from the Cellar |
As I have mentioned in the past, the Finca La Mata bottling is truly and old vine cuvée, hailing from sixty to eighty year-old tempranillo vines. It is raised in a combination of American and French casks, with one-third of the wood new each year. The 2016 Finca la Mata is an excellent young wine, wafting from the glass in a complex blend of cherries, red plums, a touch of clove, good soil tones, a lovely touch of nuttiness and a deft framing of new wood. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and still fairly youthful, with a good core, fine soil inflection, moderate tannins and a long, nascently complex and very nicely balanced finish. This is still in the process of incorporating its one-third new oak and is showing a tad woody on the backend today, but this is clearly only a stage and once this wine settles in, it will drink with plenty of style and grace, so give it at least a few more months. A fine, old school, and quite red fruity example of Ribera del Duero and a great value at under twenty dollars! 2018-2035+.
Issue #75 – May/June 2018 |
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| ** |
The Washington Post |
Score: ** 1/2 Stars (Excellent)
Here’s a stylish red made from tinta del pais vines (another name for tempranillo), planted more than 60 years ago. It shows cigar box aromas and flavors, with meaty, mushroomy notes, as well. Enjoy this wine with your steaks or burgers off the grill, when the hardwood smoke infuses your clothes, your sinuses and your memories for the next day or two. ABV: 14 percent.
Dave McIntyre - May 3, 2019 |
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Finca la Mata
2017
92 (VfC) 91 (VM) 90 (WRO)
| 92 |
View from the Cellar |
The 2017 Finca La Mata is a fine follow-up to the lovely 2016 version. These old vines have come in at fourteen percent octane in this vintage and offer up a deep and nascently complex bouquet of black cherries, plums, cigar wrapper, lovely soil tones, gentle spice elements and a judicious framing of new oak (one-third of the casks are new each year). On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with lovely fruit tones, good soil signature, buried, ripe tannins and excellent length and grip on the youthfully complex finish. This is a serious wine and deserves time in the cellar to blossom into its secondary layers of complexity, but for those a bit impatient, it is already pretty easy to drink! 2025-2055+.
John Gilman - Issue # 85 January/February 2020 |
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| 91 |
Vinous Media |
Brilliant ruby-red. Spice-tinged black raspberry and cherry on the nose, along with a subtle vanilla nuance and a hint of smokiness. Juicy cherry, cassis and mocha flavors are given a spicy edge by a jolt of white pepper. Becomes sweeter and livelier with air and finishes supple and long, with even tannins and lingering red fruit character. Produced from 85-year-old vines and aged in 80% French and 20% American oak, a third of it new. 2022 – 2029
Josh Raynolds - February 2021 |
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| 90 |
Wine Review Online |
With rich flavors of red and black fruits, a little spice, and a hint of licorice in the background, this lively red wine from Spain was aged for eight months in a combination of 80% French and 20% American oak. The fruit (100% Tempranillo, also known as Tinta del Pais) comes from vines more than half a century old. 2017 was a superior vintage for Finca la Mata.
Michael Franz - February 3, 2020 |
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Finca la Mata
2019
92 (WRO) 89 (VfC) 88 (WE)
| 92 |
Wine Review Online |
Although there’s no doubt that Ribera del Duero is a magical place for growing Tempranillo (or, as it is known locally, Tinta del Pais), I still marvel at the fact that winemaker Isaac Fernandez manages to get this wine in to virtually perfect proportionality and balance every year. Not most years — every year. After vinification, this spent eight months in wood, but that seems mostly to have enabled it to mature thanks to oxygen contact rather than impart more than a whiff of overtly oaky notes. As a result, the palate is broad and generous but still fresh with acidity, and the fruit is still primary in character, but with savory accents providing complexity from the margins. No red wine drinker could fail to enjoy this, and though Pinot freaks may prefer something lighter and Cab fans something a bit more gutsy, this is so well situated in the middle of the red spectrum that you could pour it for anybody and know you’ll deepen your friendship.
Michael Franz - Issue: December 1, 2020 |
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| 89 |
View from the Cellar |
As I have mentioned in the past, the Finca La Mata is made from old vines, with these bush vines of tempranillo ranging from sixty to eighty years of age and grown at nine hundred meters above sea level on soils of sand and gravel. It is fermented with indigenous yeasts and the 2019 was raised entirely in used barrels, with the origins of the oak being ninety percent French and ten percent American wood. The 2019 Finca La Mata is riper than the 2016 and 2017 versions, coming in listed at 14.5 percent octane, but offers up a fine nose of cherries, red plums, clove-like spice tones, cigar smoke, a fine base of soil, a touch of nutskin and still a bit of spicy oak from the used casks. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and ripe, with a good core, well-integrated tannins and fine length and grip on the nascently complex finish. I tend to like this bottling in the slightly less torrid vintages, but it has turned out very well in 2019, despite the heat of summer here. It will need a bit of time in the cellar to soften up its tannins, but it will be a good drink in due course. 2025-2050.
John Gilman - Issue #91 / February 2021 |
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| 88 |
Wine Enthusiast |
This wine has aromas of blackberry, cassis and anisette. Concentrated flavors of fruits of the wood, mocha, clove and vanilla are set into a web of glossy tannins that fade into a white chocolate and cherry finish.
M.D. - June/July 2022 |
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Finca la Mata
2020
91 (WE) 90 (WRO) 89 (VfC)
| 91 |
Wine Enthusiast |
Deep violet to the eye, this wine has a nose of blackberry and anise. It is soft on the palate, with feathery tannins and flavors of blackberry pie, cas¬sis, licorice, clove and violet that coalesce in a dark berry finish.
Mike DeSimone - Issue May 2023 |
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| 90 |
Wine Review Online |
I know this wine from all recent vintage releases, and it always seriously over-performs in complexity and seriousness in relation to its selling price. The 2020 release is on track to keep the winning streak going, though it is presently in a somewhat inexpressive (not “closed”) condition, probably due to a combination of its sheer youthfulness and jostling from trans-Atlantic shipping. Even accounting for that, it nevertheless shows good concentration from old-vine sourcing (60-85-year-old vines) and aging for 10 months in a combination of 90% French and 10% American oak. This isn’t yet as open and showy as the 2019 was at an even earlier stage, but the track record of this wine—and winemaker—are so strong that this is a good buy already and a good bet to improve.
Michael Franz – April 26, 2022 |
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| 89 |
View from the Cellar |
Finca La Mata is an old vine cuvée, with the tempranillo used here ranging from sixty to eighty-five years of age and grown at nine hundred meters. It is fermented with indigenous yeasts and raised entirely in used barrels for ten months prior to bottling. The 2020 Finca La Mata delivers a quite refined bouquet of cherries, plums, roses, lovely spice tones, a fine base of soil, cigar smoke and a deft framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely red fruity in personality, with a good core, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and well-balanced finish. Though this wine too comes in listed at 14.5 percent octane, it is cooler on the backend and seems fresher than the Rios De Tinta in this vintage. Good juice. 2025-2040.
John Gilman – Issue #98 March/April 2022 |
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Finca la Mata
2021
92 (WE) 91+ (VfC) 91 (WS) 91 (OB)
| 92 |
Wine Enthusiast |
This dark garnet-colored wine offers
aromas of Chambord, fennel frond and lavender. Lightweight tannins and
well-integrated acidity are wrapped around black currant, purple plum, anisette and
rose petal flavors. A pleasant chocolate note sticks around after the last sip.
Mike DeSimone - Issue October 2023 |
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| 91+ |
View from the Cellar |
Isaac Fernández’s Finca La Mata bottling is made from much older vines than the Rios De Tinta, as these tempranillo vines are fully sixty to eighty-five years of age! They are farmed organically, fermented with native yeasts and raised in a combination of ninety percent French and ten percent American oak casks for one year prior to bottling. The wine delivers a deep aromatic constellation of black cherries, sweet dark berries, pomegranate, dark soil tones, cigar ash a nice touch of fresh nutmeg and a sound framing of cedary new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full- bodied and ripely tannic, with excellent depth of fruit, a good base of soil, lovely focus and balance and a long, complex and promising finish. Though this is also listed at 14.5 percent octane, it shows no signs of uncovered alcohol on the backend. This is going to be an excellent wine with a bit of bottle age and is a very, very good value! 2030-2060+.
John Gilman - Issue #103 January/February 2023. |
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| 91 |
Wine Spectator |
A graceful red, with a fragrant, brambly edge of wild herbs lacing the ripe red berry, blackberry and cherry fruit flavors. Gains fine definition from light, taut tannins and citrusy acidity, while zesty spice and mineral notes linger on the finish. Drink now through 2031. 1,700 cases made, 1,500 cases imported.
Alison Napjus; Jan.31 – Feb.29 Issue |
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| 91 |
OwenBargreen.com |
The 2021 Finca La Mata was made from old vine Tinta del Pais. Silky smooth on the palate, this is a beautiful expression of Ribera, with its coffee ground and roasted fig accents alongside the core of black raspberry and blackberry fruits. Juicy and lively with its bright underlying acidity and kumquat zest notes, enjoy now and over the next seven plus years to come. Drink 2023-2030-
Owen Bargreen - October, 2023 |
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Finca la Mata
2022
92 (VfC)
| 92 |
View from the Cellar |
Isaac Fernández’s Finca La Mata Tinto is made from old vine tempranillo, with the vines ranging from sixty to fully eighty-five years of age. The vineyard is high elevation at nine hundred meters above sea level and farmed organically and the wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts. The 2022 Finca La Mata comes in at 14.5 percent alcohol and delivers a deep, ripe and classy nose of black cherries, plums, cigar wrapper, raw cocoa, dark soil tones and smoky oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and shows off excellent mid-palate depth of fruit, with firm, ripe tannins, lovely balance and grip and a long, complex and very promising young finish. This is going to be an excellent wine once it has had some time in the cellar to soften up its tannins and is an outstanding value from a region where there are not all that many value-priced wines to be found these days! 2034-2065+.
John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024 |
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