Founded in 1877 by Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, Snr López established the legendary Tondonia vineyards on the alluvial slopes overlooking the River Ebro on the cusp of the Alta and Alavesa wine sub-regions. A visionary and a romantic, his aspirations were impressive – not just for his wines but architecturally as well. His family continue his legacy and spirit led by sisters Maria Jose & Mercedes and this is without question one of the great wineries not only of Spain but of the world. The Lopez de Heredia portfolio extends over four autonomous vineyard areas, of which Tondonia is both the largest and the most famous. The other three are Cubillo, Bosconia and Gravonia; each with distinctive terroir and aspect and differing grape composition and styles of wine. The estate has 170 hectares of vineyards with 124 in production. Wines are fermented in old wooden casks, often centenarian, and aged for a long period (as they always have been) including some years in one of the 14,000 + barrels in the labyrinth of cellars (over 6,000 square feet) under the winery that span out towards the banks of the Ebro River. Only American oak is used but as the winery has its own cooperage they purchase whole trees to split and age outside before making into barrels that are repaired and tended over their long lifespan. These neutral barrels impart minimal new oak flavours into their wines – essential when aging profiles much exceed the minimum span required. The most traditional of all wineries, their heritage and stability of process, people and supreme quality are a hallmark of each of their wines.

Bodegas R Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Tinto Gran Reserva [x] 2001
13% abv
“The 2001 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva is the follow-up of the 1995. There is a sense of harmony and elegance, of nuance and subtleness that wasn’t quite the same in the Bosconia, as comparing both wines is inevitable. They started picking the red grapes the 15th of October, and the last grapes were picked the 29th of October with good weather. The grapes ripened properly and thoroughly, and the wine has great balance for a long aging in bottle. This is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.4 grams of acidity (tartaric). The nose shows young (tasting it blind, you’d guess a 10-year old wine, not a 20-year-old wine!). It has a nose of sweet spices, underbrush and cigar ash, somewhat balsamic, bramble fruit with perfect ripeness, integrated and young but starting to show some tertiary complexity. The palate is velvety and medium-bodied, with fine-grained, chalky tannins denoting a limestone soil that brings finesse and texture and a sapid, tasty, almost salty finish. This is going to make a beautiful bottle of old Rioja in 30 years’ time! 25,000 bottles produced. It was bottled after being fined with egg whites in July 2012.” 2021 -2040
98 Points, Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate, Oct 2020
Explore More:
2001 | Bodegas R Lopez de Heredia | Duty Paid | Europe | Graciano | Grenache (Garnacha/Cannonau) | Red | Rioja | Spain | Still | Tempranillo (Tinto Fino / Tinta Roriz / Tinto de Toro) | Wine- Reference #:
- 16877
- Strength
- 13 ABV
- Bottles per Case
- 1 bottles
- Grapes
- Graciano, Grenache (Garnacha/Cannonau), Tempranillo (Tinto Fino / Tinta Roriz / Tinto de Toro)
- Organic
- No
- Biodynamic
- No
- Vegan
- No
- Vegetarian
- No
- Sparkling
- No
![Bodegas R Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Tinto Gran Reserva [x] 2001](https://woodwinters.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/xmas-oodwinters-logo@2x.png)