2005 | Vina Tondonia | Rioja Reserva Tinto Lopez de Heredia

Vibrant, spice-tinged red currant and cherry aromas are complemented by suggestions of pipe tobacco, vanilla and incense, and a spicy nuance gains volume with air. Sweet and seamless on the palate, offering energetic red fruit and spicecake flavors that pick up a hint of smokiness on the back half. Concentrated yet lively, showing impressive delineation and a sexy floral quality on the extremely long, seamless finish.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2005 Viña Tondonia Reserva is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho, 5% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo from their vineyards in the meander of the Ebro River, where they have some 100 hectares of vineyards. The wine fermented in the original oak vats that are now some 140 years of age. There is no temperature control and malolactic was also in the vat. The wine was transferred to oak barrels where it slowly matured in their deep, humid caves for no less than six years. After this, it was bottled unfiltered after being fined with egg whites. I think the quality gap between the Reserva and Gran Reserva has been getting smaller since the 2001 vintage and this 2005 is nothing short of exceptional. It's clean and complex, with more freshness. The wine is very spicy and with a palate that feels very balanced, livelier than in the past. It has a long finish where the flavors are clean. Easy to drink and very pleasurable.

• James Suckling: A staggering range of aromas, from dried mango and papaya through toasted nuts to dried flowers. Powerful and concentrated, but not at all fat, this has a stunning texture, due to the interplay of tannins and richness. Very long, intense finish.

Producer Information

R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia is a Rioja producer that is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest wine estates. It was founded in 1877, and is well known for its traditional winemaking approach. It is particularly associated with its Tempranillo-based wines from the Tondonia vineyard, to the extent that this now forms part of the company name. The Tondonia vineyard extends for over 100 hectares (250 acres) in a picturesque site next to the Ebro river. The soil is made up of alluvial clay with a high limestone content, which has proved an excellent terroir for the Tempranillo and Garnacha vines that are planted there. Tondonia provides the grapes for López de Heredia's top wines, both red and white. The flagship wine from the company is the dry, vanilla-laden López de Heredia Gran Reserva. It is predominantly Tempranillo with small amounts of Garnacha and Mazuelo, and sees ten years aging in barrel before release. The Reserva, which adds a little Graciano to the blend, only receives six years. The two nutty, perfumed Viña Tondonia white wines – a Gran Reserva and a Reserva – have the same respective time in oak as the red wines, and are made from Viura with a small amount of Malvasia. An interesting innovation from Tondonia is the Gran Reserva Rosado, which is one of the few rosés in the world released after such long aging (four and a half years) in barrel. R. López de Heredia owns three other vineyards in the Rioja Alta region: Viñas Cubillo, Bosconia and Zaconia. The first two make single-vineyard red wines, while the Zaconia vineyard is planted with white varieties and previously supplied dry wines under that banner, and dessert wines labelled Sauternia. Nowadays, it is the source of the Viña Gravonia oak-aged white made from Viura. The sprawling winery complex neighboring La Rioja Alta in the centre of Haro is the oldest in the town, and one of the first wineries in the entire region. Wines are made in a range of old oak vats of varying size and wood origin, and aged in a famous network of dark, moldy cellars with evocative names such as El Cemeterio and La Dolorosa.

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