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Mayor de Ondarre Reserva is a limited-production Rioja created from specially selected, low-yielding vineyard fruit, giving you greater concentration, structure and individuality while retaining the balance and elegance that make Ondarre so dependable. Expect intense dark fruit, fine tannins, savoury complexity and beautifully integrated oak, with impressive length.
This isn't simply a more expensive version of Ondarre Reserva. Mayor shows what the producer can achieve when particularly good fruit allows greater selection and a more individual expression. It's a natural step for established Ondarre drinkers, but equally compelling when you're looking for a genuinely special, premium Rioja whose extra ambition can be explained in the glass.
Merchant's Tip
Don't think of Mayor simply as a more expensive Ondarre Reserva. The standard Reserva is deliberately dependable: vintage after vintage it delivers the familiar style our customers return to. Mayor has a different job. Selected fruit and limited production allow Ondarre to make something more concentrated and individual while retaining the balance that identifies the producer. If you already trust Ondarre, this is a fascinating step further; if you're looking for a premium Rioja, it's also a bottle with a very good reason for costing more.
Appearance: Deep cherry red with developing garnet tones.
Nose: Concentrated blackberry, plum and black cherry are layered with smoke, cedar, vanilla and spice, developing more savoury notes of dried herbs, coffee and cocoa as the wine opens.
Palate: Full and concentrated, with generous dark fruit, refreshing acidity and fine, mouth-filling tannins. Oak contributes cedar, vanilla, coffee and spice, but the intensity of the fruit keeps everything balanced.
Finish: Long and composed, with dark fruit, cocoa, savoury spice and polished tannins lingering well after the wine has left the palate.
Choose Mayor if you already enjoy Rioja Reserva but want greater concentration, structure and individuality without moving away from the balance and maturity that attracted you to Reserva in the first place. It has plenty of presence, but freshness and refined tannins prevent that concentration from becoming heaviness.
If you're approaching it as a premium Rioja rather than specifically as a Reserva, the attraction is slightly different. Mayor's premium position comes from selection and scarcity rather than simply more ageing or more oak: selected low-yielding vineyard fruit, limited production and a winemaking approach designed to preserve its concentration and character.
If what you really want is the dependable, classically styled Reserva experience that Ondarre delivers year after year, Ondarre Rioja Reserva remains our natural recommendation. Mayor isn't intended to supersede it; it offers another reason to choose Ondarre.
The extra concentration in Mayor begins with selection rather than with heavier winemaking. Tempranillo dominates the blend, supported by Mazuelo and other varieties found amongst the old vineyards. Fruit is selected from low-yielding vineyards, giving the winemaking team grapes with the intensity and structure required for this more ambitious expression of Ondarre.
The wine spends around three weeks fermenting, with careful extraction through pumping over and délestage. Malolactic fermentation takes place in new French and American oak before maturation continues in barrel. The current wine is matured predominantly in French oak, with American oak also playing a role, bringing structure, cedar, spice and polish alongside the familiar vanilla notes associated with Rioja maturation.
Most importantly, the oak isn't being used simply to make Mayor taste more expensive. The purpose is to support fruit that already has greater concentration. That's why the finished wine can be fuller, longer and more structured than standard Ondarre Reserva while remaining recognisably balanced rather than becoming dominated by oak or sheer power.
Mayor's concentration and structure make it particularly good with roast lamb, rib of beef, venison, game and slow-cooked pork. Mushrooms, roasted vegetables and dishes seasoned with rosemary, thyme, smoked paprika or chorizo also work extremely well, while mature Manchego, Cheddar and Comté make excellent cheese partners.
Serve at around 16–18°C. Decanting is worthwhile, both to allow the dark fruit, oak and savoury complexity to open and because the wine is bottled without conventional clarification or stabilisation and can therefore develop a harmless natural deposit. The producer specifically recommends decanting if sediment is present.
For more meal-led suggestions, visit our Rioja Food Pairing Guide.
Mayor earns its place in our range because it gives us something that standard Ondarre Reserva isn't trying to provide. The standard wine remains one of our benchmarks for dependable, classically styled Reserva; Mayor takes the same producer's sense of balance and applies it to a smaller-production wine built around greater fruit selection, concentration and individuality.
That makes it unusually easy for us to explain the step up. You're not paying simply for more time in oak or a grander label. You're buying a more selective expression of what Ondarre can do — one with greater depth and structure, limited production and enough individuality to justify choosing it when the occasion or your curiosity calls for something more special.
For an existing Ondarre customer, it's a chance to explore further without abandoning a producer you already trust. For someone shopping for premium Rioja, it's a serious, distinctive bottle whose premium credentials come from what went into making the wine rather than the word premium itself.
If Mayor appeals because you want a more ambitious or distinctive expression of Rioja, browse our Premium & Special-Cuvée Rioja wines.
If Reserva itself is the important part of your decision and you'd like to compare different expressions of the style, browse our Rioja Reserva wines.
Or, if you'd like to explore how the same producer approaches different Rioja styles, browse our Bodegas Ondarre wines or read our Bodegas Ondarre guide.
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