91 Points - Parker
Notes
La Tapada is a hidden vineyard situated in Azagra, a quiet village in the D.O. of Rioja Oriental (previously Rioja Baja) but part of the Navarra region. Most of the viticulture in this area has become highly mechanized and industrial, but La Tapada is one of the last remaining traditional vineyards.
The name, La Tapada, means "the covered one" or "hidden one" and it references the fact that the Garnacha grape variety became much more scarce and hard to find in La Rioja after the move to more industrial winemaking. Many Garnacha vineyards were uprooted in the 60s-70s in favour of the early ripening and more easily cultivated Tempranillo variety that most wine drinkers have heard of.
Luis Moya Tortosa's goal with this wine is to demonstrate the incredible potential of Garnacha in this area of Rioja. As Luis says, "They knew it 70 years ago, when they planted this beautiful vineyard; now hidden by the posts and wires of adjacent vineyards."
Aromas of red fruit, raspberries, strawberries and cherries along with ripe dark forest berries. Floral notes, particularly violets. On the palate the wine is rich, the aged notes of oak are balanced by the wine's acidity. Intense, long, and concentrated. This wine can age for many years in the bottle.
Manually harvested, La Tapada undergoes cold natural fermentation in stainless steel vats. The fermentation happens spontaneously driven by the grape's natural yeasts and bacteria. The wine is aged in 225L used oak barrels for one year.
Low intervention, no clarification or filtration, organically grown, this is a pure wine “without any makeup” as Luis likes to say.
Facts
Annual Production: 2300 bottles (The club has access to 150 annually)
Type: Tinto (Red)
Body: Full
Palate: Dry
Finish: concentrated, long, and intense
Grape Variety: 100% Garnacha
Viticulture / Farming: Traditional Farming & Certified Organic - Terroir Driven
ABV%: 15.0
Ageing: 12 months in used French oak barrels
Winemaker: Luis Moya Tortosa
Bodega: LMT Wines
Region: near Azagra, in Rioja Oriental
Designation of Origin: DOCa Rioja
Micro-Climate: Continental - hot and dry summers and cool/mild in the winters
Elevation: 350 meters above sea level
Age of Vines: 70+ years old - planted in 1950
Soil: calcareous with round river stones
Tips
- Drink now or keep for up to 15 years
- No decanting necessary, just uncork 20-30 minutes before serving
- Pairs with Tapas, Manchego or any cheese (cow, goat or sheep), Ibérico ham, Paté or any Spreads, Poultry, Pasta or Pizza, Legumes or Meat, typical Spanish dishes, all Mediterranean and Asian rice-based dishes spiced but not too hot.
- Ideal at 16 Celsius
Terroir
La Tapada vineyard is located near the town of Azagra, right on the border between Navarra and Rioja in Northern Spain. The vineyard faces north-east, and sits on a slight incline. The soil is mostly calcareous clay with round cobble-sized river stones on the surface. The Continental summers are hot, dry, and mostly clear and the winters are cold and partly cloudy, not much annual rainfall. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 2°C to 30°C and is rarely below -2°C or above 36°C.
Vinification
Manually harvested, La Tapada undergoes cold natural fermentation in stainless steel vats. The fermentation happens spontaneously driven by the grape's natural yeasts and bacteria. The wine is aged in 225L used oak barrels for one year.
Low intervention, no clarification or filtration, organically grown, this is a pure wine “without any makeup” as Luis likes to say.
Winemaker
According to Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate magazine LMT Wines is considered "one of the very exciting new projects in Navarra". Navarra is the region sandwiched between La Rioja, Basque Country, Aragon, and the southern border of France. Internationally, it's best known for the Fiestas de San Fermín which occur every year in the capital, Pamplona.
L, M , and T are quite simply the initials of the excellent winemaker behind this project, Luis Moya Tortosa.
Luis likes to call himself a "Nomadic Winemaker" since, as of yet, he doesn't own any vineyard. Instead, he moves through the land, finding and reviving old vineyards in Navarra, predominantly of Garnacha, and in the area of Rioja bordering Navarra, where he also works with the Graciano variety. He rents the spaces in which he makes his nomadic wines.
For now, Luis works with 5 hectares of very old vineyards in various areas, producing about 12,000 bottles of wine a year, some of them together with his good friend and winemaker, Gonzalo Celayeta.
Luis Moya Tortosa was born in Burlada, a municipality in the outskirts of Pamplona, Navarra's capital.
Right after Luis graduated as Technical Agricultural Engineer, he started to manage and run a bar in Burlada.
As Luis says, he was the one that drank the most wine in that bar, and a large variety of wines, not only from Navarra. This is when he really started to fall in love with the culture of wine.
He began working in the Cooperative Winery of Aibar, a municipality east of Pamplona.
Since he was already fully involved in wine culture he decided to make it official. He enrolled in the Masters of Oenology, Viticulture and Marketing at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM).
After achieving his Master's degree, he spent a few years working in research and helping in the production of Navarra's Institutional Wine at the Institute of Oenology and Viticulture (EVENA).
Whilst working at EVENA, he graduated in Oenology at the University of La Rioja, and he completed his studies achieving Level 3 at the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET 3).
Then, working as an oenologist at the "Vitivinícola de Cárcar" he began producing his first wine, which was Masusta in 2012.
In Luis' own words translated from Spanish "My passion for the world of wine not only pushes me to produce different wines but also gives me the opportunity to travel to areas that I haven't yet explored and discover terroirs from which I can learn and draw inspiration. My world circles around Navarra and Rioja; in Navarra the Garnachas give me all my joy, and in Rioja the innumerable variety of different terroirs never cease to amaze me."
Ratings & Reviews
91 Points - Luis Gutiérrez Santo Domingo (Wine Advocate, Robert Parker)
"There is a pure Garnacha from Rioja, the 2017 La Tapada, from a vineyard in the village of Azagra, one of a handful of villages from Navarra that are included within the Rioja appellation. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel and matured in used 225-litre oak barrels for 12 months. It has a more mainstream profile, possibly because of the effect of the élevage, which gave it a spicy and smoky character, with notes of vanilla and coconut reminiscent of some old Rioja but with a more creamy/luxurious texture. It's medium-bodied and has fine tannins and a finish where the creamy oak makes a comeback. 2,400 bottles produced. It was bottled in September 2019. Curiously enough, this vineyard didn't suffer the frost of 2017, but in the more benign 2018, yields were higher but the quality didn't convince Moya to bottle it".
