Telmo Rodriguez, Matallana Ribera Del Duero, 2023
Telmo Rodriguez, Matallana Ribera Del Duero, 2023
- 75cl
- 14.5%
- Red Still
- Tempranillo, Navarro, Valenciano, Albillo
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Optimal drinking window: 2028 - 2042
Est. delivery in 2027
Telmo Rodriguez is one of Spain's great vineyard detectives, and Matallana is the wine he makes when he really means it. Sourced from old-vine Tempranillo in Ribera del Duero, this is not a wine that flatters immediately — it's built with purpose, shaped by altitude and poor soils into something taut, dark, and genuinely serious. Think of it as a great Ribera at its most intellectual rather than its most generous.
What the critics say:
"Since in 1998, the project has taken a different approach to Ribera del Duero, focusing on reviving historic wine villages and replanting vineyards in their best soils, from the limestone slopes of Sotillo de la Ribera to the red-hued hills of Pardilla, aiming to create a distinctive, site-driven expression of the region. Today, Matallana comprises 21.5 hectares of estate vineyards, most planted over the last 20 years, in a style that emulates old vineyards. The 2023 vintage was warm, with high temperatures in summer and autumn and uneven rainfall patterns, including a dry spring but a wetter summer and relatively normal autumn. A notable late-season warm spell in September helped complete ripening and protected the grapes from fungal pressure, resulting in a balanced maturation. The 2023 Matallana fermented in oak and stainless steel vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in French oak barrels of different ages for 14 months. It's still young, creamy and covered by the baby fat and some smoky and spicy notes from the élevage. It's a wine for the long haul; it's balanced, powerful and elegant, with the stuffing and harmony to develop nicely in bottle. It should make a classical Ribera bottle: relaxed, with character and a fine thread, a velvety palate, elegant and with very fine tannins. Just 13,369 bottles were produced, which is a lot less than in 2022. It was bottled in July 2025."
"Dark fruit, spices and thyme with stony austerity. Medium- to full-bodied, leaning toward medium. Incisive and fresh. Vibrant and cohesive with an angular palate and very focused, chalky tannins. This needs some time."
Matallana is grown on the high plateau of the Duero river valley, at altitudes around 800-900 metres, where the continental climate means brutal winters, hot summers, and significant day-to-night temperature swings that preserve freshness and aromatic complexity. The soils are a mix of limestone and clay with chalky subsoils, which give the wine its characteristic mineral tension and help to moderate the Tempranillo's natural tendency towards ripeness. These are not plush, easy-going conditions — vines here struggle, root deep, and produce small yields of concentrated, structured fruit.
Ribera del Duero is Tempranillo's heartland and Spain's great rival to Rioja, running along the Duero river through Castilla y León. The DO requires a minimum of 75% Tempranillo (here called Tinto Fino or Tinta del País), with optional additions of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec permitted. What distinguishes Ribera from Rioja is altitude and intensity: the plateau climate produces wines that are typically darker, denser, and more structured, with less of Rioja's easy, oak-forward charm and more of a stern, mineral backbone that rewards patience.
The 2023 growing season in Ribera del Duero was defined by heat and drought, with summer temperatures pushing hard across the plateau and putting real pressure on vine hydration. Older, deep-rooted Tempranillo vines coped better than younger plantings, and the producers who manage their yields carefully — those who farm for concentration rather than volume — were rewarded with grapes of real intensity. A return of cooler conditions in late August and into September gave the skins time to develop properly, and most estates were able to bring in fruit in good shape.
The resulting wines from Tempranillo lean ripe and structured, with the kind of density that suggests patience will be repaid. We find plenty of colour, firm tannins, and serious fruit concentration across the board. At the top end, these are wines that deserve proper cellaring — we would not rush anything ambitious before 2026 or 2027, and the best will reward you until 2035 and beyond. At the entry level, the warmth of the vintage has produced wines that are generous and approachable now, which is no bad thing.
OUR GROWERS
Telmo Rodriguez
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