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Rioja Reserva Blanco, Vina Tondonia, R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia 2005

RegionSpain
Subregion Spain > Rioja
ColourWhite
TypeStill
Grape VarietyViura

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Tasting Notes

The 2005 Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva is a fine and elegant wine inspired by the vineyards of Graves in Bordeaux. 2005 was an excellent vintage, when 154 hectares of vineyards from the 170 they own were in production. The grapes were picked before the rains of October 12th. This is mostly Viura (Macabeo), but it always contains some 10% Malvasía Riojana, and the white varieties are always planted on whiter, limestone-rich soils. It matured in used oak barriques for six years before bottling. María José and Mercedes López de Heredia told me their Viura, with the low yields they get (often 2,000 kilograms per hectare), shows less of the vintage differences, and even in torrid years like 2003, the wines do not show heat. It's very interesting comparing this with the Gravonia from 2008, as this showed higher ripeness and a lot more developed aromas, nuttier with hints of hay and straw, honey and also chamomile and dried flowers. But the oak is never obvious in the wine, it only adds spiciness but no wood aromas. 2005 was also a warmer, riper and more powerful vintage, which shows more in the palate, which is round and powerful with pungent flavors. 20,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2013 over two consecutive days.

95
Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate (235), February 2018
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.