Lopez de Heredia 2001 Vina Tondonia Rioja Gran Reserva

R. López de Heredia

R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, known as López de Heredia, is one of the three original founding Bodegas in Rioja and the only one that is still run by the descendants of its founder, Don Rafael López de Heredia, a Chilean of Basque origin.

I have long admired these wines - this is my favourite wine producer in Rioja and the whole of Spain. The wines are highly complex, concentrated, and age-worthy; above everything, they are profoundly traditional and authentic.

The reds start with Viña Cubillo: a Crianza only in name, more akin to a Reserva or Gran Reserva. There are two Reservas: Viña Bosconia and Viña Tondonia, both sourced from single parcels of vines with varying blends of grape varieties. Both undergo extended ageing: typically, Bosconia will spend five years in a cask and six years for Tondonia. There is also an exceptionally rare Gran Reserva which typically spends ten years in barrel. You might be mistaken for thinking these are oaky wines; they are far from it.

The whites produced here are exceptional: Viña Gravonia and Viña Tondonia Blanco. Exquisite wines that are as rare as they are lovely. Again, long barrel ageing brings remarkably complex and mature notes to these great whites which defy ageing. I have been lucky to taste back to 1964 (and 1948 for the Reds) and can attest to their slow development and supreme complexity.