Lopez de Heredia - Rioja Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva 2001

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98 Points, Wine Advocate

"This is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. The nose shows young (tasting it blind, you’d guess a 10-year old wine, not a 20-year-old wine!). It has a nose of sweet spices, underbrush and cigar ash, somewhat balsamic, bramble fruit with perfect ripeness, integrated and young but starting to show some tertiary complexity. The palate is velvety and medium-bodied, with fine-grained, chalky tannins denoting a limestone soil that brings finesse and texture and a sapid, tasty, almost salty finish. This is going to make a beautiful bottle of old Rioja in 30 years’ time! 25,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2012."

Lopez de Heredia Description

Lopez de Heredia, one of the most venerable producers in Spain, produces traditional, age-worthy Rioja. Their wines are legendary and still made the way they were when the winery was founded over 130 years ago. Following a tradition that has been passed down through generations, their wines are released at least 5-10 years after harvest, which provides added complexity and elegance to their Crianzas and Gran Reservas.

A rarity in Rioja, Lopez de Heredia uses only estate bottled fruit from their prized vineyards: Tondonia, Cubillo, Bosconia, and Zaconia; with the idea that the only way to get the best fruit is to care for the vines themselves.

Wine Advocate: 98 Points

"The 2001 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva is the follow-up of the 1995. There is a sense of harmony and elegance, of nuance and subtleness that wasn’t quite the same in the Bosconia, as comparing both wines is inevitable. They started picking the red grapes the 15th of October, and the last grapes were picked the 29th of October with good weather. The grapes ripened properly and thoroughly, and the wine has great balance for a long aging in bottle. This is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.4 grams of acidity (tartaric). The nose shows young (tasting it blind, you’d guess a 10-year old wine, not a 20-year-old wine!). It has a nose of sweet spices, underbrush and cigar ash, somewhat balsamic, bramble fruit with perfect ripeness, integrated and young but starting to show some tertiary complexity. The palate is velvety and medium-bodied, with fine-grained, chalky tannins denoting a limestone soil that brings finesse and texture and a sapid, tasty, almost salty finish. This is going to make a beautiful bottle of old Rioja in 30 years’ time! 25,000 bottles produced. It was bottled after being fined with egg whites in July 2012."

Wine Spectator: 97 Points

Wow. This is really something on the nose, offering ripe plums that are highlighted with old and used leather, walnut and cedar, reminiscent of the interior of a fine vintage sports car. Full-bodied with very fine tannins and delicious, ripe fruit that continues on for minutes. Tile and dark berry at the end. Still tight and fresh for the vintage. A great wine.