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Lopez de Heredia 2011 Vina Bosconia Rioja Reserva
£29.90
In stock
SKU
SPRIRLHBO11B
- Buy 6 for £28.41 each and save 5%
R. Lopez de Heredia, also known as Tondonia, is the greatest producer in Rioja. Founded in 1877, their winemaking style has barely changed, holding fast to the traditions of their founder Rafael Lopez de Heredia.
Vina Bosconia is the first of the two Reserves made at the Bodega. The wine typically spends five years in cask, and the rest in bottle. The recently released 2011 is 80% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacha (or Garnacho as they call it), with the balance of Mazuelo and Graciano.
The name Bosconia is a corruption of the Spanish word for Burgundy. Unlike their other wines, the wine is bottled in a Burgundy-shaped bottle to signify its Burgundian qualities. Mistakenly, in the 19th century, the winery believed that alluding to Burgundy meant being richer than a Claret: the style that most Rioja Bodegas of the time were intent on recreating.
Bosconia is a highly complex wine: a little more concentrated than Vina Cubillo, but not remarkably. The nose is open and broad with the beautiful balsamy, mature notes we expect from this outstanding wine.
If you are seeking out the ultimate expression of Rioja, then you have found it.
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The Producer
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.
Lopez de Heredia Mixed Case Red Rioja, 6 bottles
Special Price £184.11 Regular Price £193.80
The Wine Region
Rioja
Rioja is, along with Sherry, Spain's most famous wine region. Its red wines are based on the noble grape variety of Tempranillo. The red wines of Rioja are classified according their minimum ageing requirements in cask and bottle before being released to the market, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva, with the term Cosecha being used for wines which are young, or do not tend to follow this classification. The wines have an affinity with oak, particularly with the more aromatic American oak, and like many other regions of the world there is tension between the traditionalists and the modernists, with the latter being exemplified by the wines of Artadi and Pujanza
Pujanza 2019 Rioja 'Hado'
£19.90
CVNE 2020 Rioja Crianza Cune
£10.70
