This is the second time that I’ve had this wine in a week and both times the wine was impressive in its elegance, complexity and flavor depth. From the first pour, the wine’s enthralling bouquet haunts you with aromatic spices, dried red currant, cherries, touch of cedar, orange peel, and roasted nuts. In the mouth, the same finesse persists. Medium in body with striking verve displaying a core of red fruits with a twist of orange peel. Resolved tannin and silken texture. Persistently long finish with a nice sour cherry nuance. Given this wine’s balance, acidity and depth of flavors, I think this can easily age another 20-30 years and evolve into an even more magical wine.
The wine is from Lopez de Heredia, an old-school and very traditional bodega in Rioja Alta founded in 1877. To this day, the winey continues to use their own oak barrels employing their own coopers. They actually import whole tree trunks and fashion the barrels in-house. Vina Tondonia is the bodega’s flagship wine that comes from the vineyard of the same name and is a blend from primarily Tempranillo (usually 70-80% depending on the vintage) with Garnacha, Graciano, and Mazuelo. The Gran Reserva designation dictates that the wine be aged for a minimum of 5 years before its release with a mandated 2 years of aging in barrel. Vina Tondonia’s red routinely ages for 9 years in barrel; 1994 is the current release.