Lopez de Heredia Rioja Vina Tondonia Reserva 2011

Rioja, Spain

Wine Advocate 94 points! James Suckling 95 points! Wine Spectator Top 100 2024 #53, 93 points!

Lopez de Heredia Rioja Vina Tondonia Reserva is a gorgeous Spanish red wine gem for the ages from one of the top producers in the renowned Rioja Alta wine region. In the middle of the nineteenth century when French negociants visited the Rioja region to find alternative sources of quality grapes to transform into wine, since the phylloxera epidemic had decimated their vineyards, Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic student in the art of wine making, followed closely in their footsteps. Don Rafael fell in love with the region and especially the area around Haro, the mythical capital of the Rioja Alta region. He observed that there was a magical combination of soil and climate that would offer the perfect environment for producing wine that would eventually become world famous.

Tondonia Reserva is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, 5% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo. The wine ferments in the original wooden vats present at the winery since its foundation. After malolactic the wine is transferred to very old American oak and rests on the mythical galleries of the winery in Haro. It is bottled unfined and rests again in the glass until released, usually 10+ years after harvest.

“A traditional beauty that effuses iron, warm earth and savory tobacco leaves, together with plums, spices and orange zest. This is juicy and still tight, with firm but savory tannins. Medium-weight and quite zesty in texture, as is the case with the other López de Heredia reds tasted this session. Drink now or hold.”—James Suckling, 95 points!

“The 2011 Viña Tondonia Reserva is darker and shows riper fruit, a rounder palate and some dusty tannins. A year of ripeness, concentration and tannin, the wine is powerful with the finesse of Tondonia. Tasting this next to the textbook 2010 Tondonia revealed how this has more muscle and a wider back and the 2010 epitomizes the finesse and elegance. 270,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2019. Drink 2022-2029.”—Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate, 94 points!

Enjoy Lopez de Heredia Rioja Vina Tondonia Reserva with roast pork, lamb, grilled steak, paella, and aged cheeses.