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2011 López de Heredia "Viña Tondonia" Reserva Rioja

2011 López de Heredia "Viña Tondonia" Reserva Rioja

95JS
95TA
94RP
93JG

95

James Suckling

Review Date: 06/2022
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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.

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Professional Reviews

95

Tim Atkin

Review Date: 02/2023
Aged for nearly six years in very old barrels, Tondonia is one of Rioja's most proudly traditional wines. Tempranillo dominated, with 20% Garnacha and 5% of both Graciano and Mazuelo, this is complex, mature and well-structured, with plenty of acidity, sinewy tannins, some balsamic sweetness and a taut, focused, age-worthy finish. 2023-35

94

Wine Advocate

Review Date: 11/2022
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. (LG)

93

John Gilman

Review Date: 01/2024
The 2011 “Viña Tondonia” Reserva from López de Heredia is crafted this year from a cépages of seventy percent tempranillo, twenty percent garnacha and ten percent from a mix of mazuelo and graciano. It was aged for six years in older American oak barrels of two hundred-twenty-five liter capacity prior to bottling. The wine is showing beautifully at age thirteen, offering up a bright and complex bouquet of raspberries, black cherries, smoked meats, Rioja spice tones, a lovely base of chalky soil, cigar wrapper and a lovely, discreet framing of American oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and just starting to show a bit of velvetiness on the attack, with a lovely core of fruit, moderate tannins, tangy acids, fine focus and grip and a long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. This is already quite tasty, though of course, still in climbing mode and will be even better down the road, as there are some tannins here still to resolve. Fine juice.

Staff Reviews

Kirk Walker
K&L Buyer
Review Date: 12/2023
This wine has everything that you want from Rioja; intensity, fruit, earth, spice, oak, and leather. It is all there, and it is all woven together seamlessly. Everything in its place, with no element competing for attention. This is an incredibly balanced wine. What takes it to the next level is the quality of the flavors and aromas, they are fine and nuanced. I love the range of flavors, but it is how they are integrated that gives so much dimension to this wine. This is classic, old-school Rioja. The tannins are polished, this wine glides across the palate. The acid gives the wine energy, but no edges and the finish persists with all the flavors lingering together. The flavors are totally different, but this wine resonates with me the same way that 2nd growth Bordeaux does, especially Pichon Baron and Pichon Lalande. My thoughts took me almost immediately to those wines. It is the poise, the effortless polish, and the retrained power. What better company can wine keep? This is an elevated wine from one of the very best producers of the region.
Carlo Delgado
Review Date: 05/2024
Whenever I crave something extraordinary, and do not want to spend a fortune, López' Tondonia Reserva is my go to. The 2011 vintage is no exception, and phenomenal as usual. Subtle, developed notes of red cherry, raspberry, dried cigar leaf, bay leaf, iodine, tajin, black tea, potting soil, leather, and a just a touch of coconut. Consistent, distinctive, and absolutely delicious. I brought this to my first Hollywood Bowl concert, and it was the perfect bottle!
Scott Beckerley
Review Date: 12/2023
To be fair, I love Tondonia, in all of its forms. Red, white, rose. All of them please my taste buds! Here we have the 2011 Reserva with a pretty deep nose of dark red fruits, pipe tobacco, lavender and sage. Neat! On the palate, earthy, bright, mildly spicy with nutmeg and orange peel. There is top of the mouth fleshiness, with darker red fruits and the barest hint of chalk. The finish is very long and dry. Iit is all well-integrated and delicious. Great price for a Reserva, as well!
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Notes

López de Heredia has a well-earned reputation as the stalwart traditionalist of Rioja, along the lines of Mascarello in Barolo, Mayacamas in Napa Valley, or de Montille in Burgundy. What is arguably lost in all the attention paid to traditional winemaking, wine ageing and craft, is that López de Heredia pioneered the single vineyard wine in Rioja, a tradition they still honor with each of their wines. These wines hail from single vineyards -- well-sited, glorious single vineyards. Viña Tondonia Reserva is always the most claret-like, with a sense of reserve and structure that really allows it to shine equally well upon release at table, or after some time in the cellar.

Product Details

Origin: Rioja, Spain

Type/Varietal: Tempranillo

Alcohol Content: 12.5%

SKU: #1480668