a textbook Tondonia nose and profile

—Luis Gutierrez, the Wine Advocate

López de Heredia is the greatest name in Rioja, known for its traditional practices, ancient cellars and the outstanding wines it produces. In a region like Rioja, long aging is understood to be part of the process — Crianzas, Reservas and Gran Reservas are all defined by the amount of time the wine spends aging first in barrel and then in bottle. López de Heredia takes this to the extreme, dismissing the legal requirements and adopting whatever processes will make for the highest quality wine.

If another winery made a wine like López’s Tondonia Reserva, they’d most likely label it as a Gran Reserva, but López chooses to age their top wines two or more decades. Tondonia Reserva rested in barrel (old American oak) — the barrels made by their in-house cooper —  for 6 years, then rested in the bottle until its release last year. It's a rare practice that allows us to savor a perfectly cellared wine when it is perfectly ready to drink.

A wine from a vintage like 2012 — warm and dry, with 25% less rainfall than average — benefits immensely from this aging process. How convenient and thoughtful it was for López to cellar it for us! It’s just now entering its prime drinking window: its powerful structure is beginning to integrate, its intense flavors are starting to meld. But López’s wines are known for their aging potential, and we think the 2012 Tondonia has enough power and backbone to hold up for many more decades.

Single vineyard wines are rare in Rioja, but from its inception, each wine at López has been exactly that — the Tondonia vineyard abuts the Ebro river; the soil here is alluvial clay, with a high proportion of limestone. The 19th century founders were heavily influenced by the classics of French wine, especially Bordeaux. They chose specific varieties to plant, as well as where to plant them, to reflect a certain desired style. Tondonia is meant to remind us of Bordeaux, with its flavors of cassis, tobacco, licorice and spice box.

It's arguably the purest expression of traditional Rioja. It has much to offer now — a rich palate, firm, food-friendly tannins that are just starting to relax, cool minerality. But there’s so much promise still wound up inside the bottle. 

López de Heredia, Rioja Reserva 'Tondonia', 2012 $59.99
“The 2012 Viña Tondonia Reserva comes from a very dry year, with 25% less rain than the average (at the time), resulting in lower yields of very healthy grapes that delivered wines with nice balance between alcohol and polyphenols, making it very apt for the aging in barrel. It had a slightly longer élevage in barrel, six years. The wine is aromatic with a developed profile, spicy and tertiary (forest floor, a touch of brick dust and iodine), complex and nuanced. The palate is full and round, with polished tannins and a long, dry finish. It has a textbook Tondonia nose and profile. 250,000 bottles produced.” Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate