Single vineyard Rioja from the ultra-traditionalists
It's a timeless style, and one built on a reputation for consistency vintage in, vintage out. Bodegas Lopez de Heredia have been making wine the same way ever since they were founded. The best quality fruit from their flagship vineyard Tondonia is fermented, given long aging in American oak barrels followed by yet more aging in bottle, before finally being released to the market. The result is a wine in a complex and mellow style, as much characterised by primary red fruit (strawberry, raspberry) as it by such developed characteristics as fresh leather, tobacco, game, sage and vanilla.
Vintages vary, of course, but the model takes account of that. With the wine being made from a very classic Rioja grape blend (in 2009, that works out as 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, and a 10% blend of Graciano and Mazuelo), the bodega has scope to vary proportions when one grape variety performs better or worse. And some years, quantity gets sacrificed on the altar of quality. But things went well in 2009, when an excellent harvest was brought in, and 2009 Tondonia is a generous and rewarding wine; the welcoming, perfumed approach conceals layers of structure that will unfold over time.
Like wine regions everywhere, Rioja is subject to ever more commercial pressures, and visiting some wineries can feel like a 'big business' experience. But 144 years after it was founded, Lopez de Heredia remains family-owned, with the vision of its founder Rafael Lopez de Heredia still front and central. For a long time, as Rioja 'modernised' in the 1980s and 90s, it looked increasingly anachronistic and isolated; but fashions have changed again, and Lopez de Heredia has a huge and loyal following. At the winery, of course, they smile and shrug and carry on doing what they always have done. /NT
Offered subject to remaining unsold; for shipment Autumn 2021
