Tim Atkin, master of wine and the first international prescriptor who dared to make a classification of Rioja wineries, published last January his second monographic report, Rioja Special Report 2017, with 850 wines tasted from more than 150 wineries.
Atkin renews his ‘controversial’ winery pyramid from last year in which, following the scheme of the historic Bordeaux classification of 1855, he groups Rioja wineries according to different levels of quality, with subjective criteria of course. We say controversial because it was Atkin himself who called his classification so, aware that the bet he made on young winemakers with small wineries that cultivate their own vineyards was going to raise blisters, as it did.
At Familia Martínez Bujanda we have always thought that the opinion that is really useful about our wines is the opinion of our own customers, that critics help but that they are not the only ones that are useful. tasting actually has little to do with the consumption of a bottle of wine, which we like to associate with good times, gastronomic or otherwise, and with good company.
In any case, what we reaffirm is that the commitment to singular vineyards, to estates and terroirs with personality, is the way to offer a different and honest product. Tim Atkin elevates our Rioja winery in his 2017 report, Finca Valpiedra, from the third to the second step of the pyramid, comparable to a second cru of the Médoc, For a relatively young winery like ours, inaugurated in 1999 and still reaping the fruits of a hard work of parceling, selection and understanding of the vineyards, this is a real accolade.
Our winemaking concept, which we also apply at Finca Montepedroso (Rueda) and Finca Antigua (La Mancha), is to reflect as honestly as possible the possibilities of the estates and vineyards we work: we make wines that reflect the identity of our terroirs.
Atkin’s report assesses Finca Valpiedra 2010 with an outstanding score of 95 points, while Cantos de Valpiedra, in this case from the difficult 2013 vintage -in which, as a commitment to the honesty of which we presume, we did not make Finca Valpiedra due to the difficulties of the harvest-, scored 93 points. Both wines were selected by Atkin as Riojas of the year in the Reserva and Crianza categories.
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