2019 | R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia | 'Vina Cubillo' Crianza

A vibrant Rioja from cult producer López de Heredia. It's made from a blend of 70% tempranillo, 20% garnacha and 5% each graciano and mazuelo (aka carignan), and aged in used American oak barrels. It's packed full of delicate savoury notes and a complexity that suggests greater maturity than a normal crianza. Silky and full of depth, this is a wine that will stand up to all things spicy and meaty.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2014 Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza is a textbook vintage with some aromatic development, notes of fresh blood and some grainy tannins, perhaps less polished than previous vintages, lively and concentrated, a bit harsh. 2014 was a very rainy vintage. This is usually a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo matured in well-seasoned, neutral American oak barrels for three years.

• James Suckling: An earthy, well-aged Rioja with complex aromas of dried oranges, savory dried plums, mushrooms, tobacco and wet leaves. Distinctively zesty with bright, citrusy fruit on the medium-bodied palate, rounded by firm, juicy tannins. Quite a long, outstanding entry-level red from this traditional producer. Very drinkable now, but will also hold.

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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