ONTANON Rioja 'Crianza' 2013

The 2013 'Crianza' bottling by Ontañón is one of the great values out of Rioja that I have sampled in the past year. Considering that this wine was taken from a vintage that was declared 'good,' but was given the worst vintage declaration by the Rioja DOCa council in ten years, this is an absolutely fantastic effort by the winemaking team at Ontañón. Vines for this wine are set on high elevation slopes in the southeastern end of Rioja which sees some prime diurnal shifts. It is hard not to enjoy this effort by Ontanon. This balanced wine opens with aromas of black plum, black cherry, sandalwood and orange rind with red cherry. There are deep flavors of black cherry, teaberry, black raspberry and Mandarin orange rind. The minerality and texture of this wine is lovely. While ripening was an issue for many Rioja producers in 2013, this wine is not short of ripe fruit flavors straight out of the bottle. This is an excellent value Crianza that will also age well in the short term. (Best 2016-2024) - July, 2016 (OB)


Wine Specifications


  • Report Date: July, 2016
  • Producer: Ontañón
  • Vintage: 2013
  • Drinking Window: 2016-2024
  • Estimated Value: $12
  • Country: Spain
  • Region: Rioja
  • Appellation: Rioja
  • Importer: N/A

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.