Lopez de Heredia is the oldest winery in Rioja Alta and a bastion of tradition. Long appreciated as one of the wine world’s unsung heroes, the best Tondonias are some of the most complex, satisfying and long-lived wines you are likely to encounter. What’s more, they continue to be offered at astoundingly reasonable prices. Case in point; the 2007 Tondonia Reserva has just been released. At under £30.00 per bottle on your table this seems like an unmissable opportunity to secure a wine that is absolutely guaranteed to over-deliver on its price.
If any further endorsement was needed, Luis Gutierrez is the first major critic first out of the blocks with a fantastic 96-point score - the best Wine Advocate score since the 1994 Tondonia Reserva.
Read More“Following the appreciation of the 2007 vintage from MarÍa José López de Heredia, the red 2007 Viña Tondonia Reserva is showing great, revealing unusual finesse and elegance. The nose is a little reticent but nuanced and complex, a little shy rather than explosive. The palate is medium-bodied, and the tannins are very refined. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Viña Tondonia Reserva of recent years. 200,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2015.” – Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate, June 2019.
To recap the specifics of Vina Tondonia; the vineyard is situated at 480m altitude, planted on alluvial clay and limestone, and flanked by the River Ebro, which provides a natural border between the sub-regions of Rioja Alta and Rioja Alevesa. In the hands of Maria Jose Lopez de Heredia, this first class site continues to produce the same high toned, ethereal style of Rioja that has enthralled Spanish wine lovers for generations. Fermentations are carried out in huge, ancient wooden vats, with no temperature control, additions, or technology whatsoever. In the case of the Tondonia Reserva 2007, it spent eight years in estate-coopered American oak barriques buried deep in the “cathedral” beneath the winery with regular racking. They are bottled unfined and unfiltered.