ETA Fall 2025 - direct from the winery cellars

94 pts Wine Advocate - The 2004 Viña Tondonia Reserva is a completely different story. It is a worthy follower of the 2001, the greatest of the Viña Tondonia Reservas of recent times. It has the usual blend and usual levels of alcohol and acidity, bottled after six years in oak barrels. The nose feels savory (if that's possible–umami?) and developed, with tertiary aromas and good balance between spices, leathery notes, cherries and balsamic notes of cigar box and incense. The palate is both round and crisp, with refined tannins. It has very good balance with subtle acidity and very good persistence. 4/2015 - Luis Gutierrez, Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The Tondonia is the flagship of the winery and probably nowadays the most popular of all the Rioja wines made in this special region. This again is a wine I personally buy every year - you will read that a lot here - I only try to offer wines that I personally admire. These wines drink amazingly well now but have the ability to age gracefully another 20 years easy. Wines like this that are held back and matured at the winery should cost a fortune, but lucky for us, Lopez de Heredia thought to do this a long time ago, setting them up to economically be able to do so and offer us a true superior value wine.

Grapes: Tempranillo 75%, Garnacho 15%, Graciano and Mazuelo 10%