All wines
R. López de Heredia
Viña Tondonia Tinto Gran Reserva
2001
4.3
Region
Spain › La Rioja › Rioja DOC
Type
red · still
Grapes
Grenache, Tempranillo, Graciano, Tintilia
Alcohol
13%
Volume
750 mL
Sugar
2.5 g/L
Tasting Notes(1)
4.3
With all due respect, I find it hard to drink Gran Reserva. Maybe it's not ready yet. Maybe I am not ready yet. In any case, it's a wonderful study case. After all, it's an old-school 22-year-old Rioja, a bottled time machine.
Gran Reserva 2001 offers a sophisticated bouquet of sweet spices, dry cigars, forest floor, musk, iodine and balsamic. Are there any fruits? Yes, something akin to dried bramble fruit. High acidity and mature tannin, well-structured and persistent. It required 5+ hours to open up. A marvellous wine, for sure.
About
The 2001 Viña Tondonia Tinto Gran Reserva is the most recent release. And they produce Gran Reserva wines only in exceptional years. For example, the previous release was Cosecha 1995. A blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, 5% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo that fermented in their ancient oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for ten years. López de Heredia filled 25,000 bottles in July 2012.
