2016 Viñdeos y Bodegas R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, Viña Gravonia, Crianza Blanco, White Rioja DO, Rioja Alta, Haro, Spain.
This historic winery, López de Heredia, as mentioned here many, many times, has been around since 1877 and has been a bastion of tradition ever since, and while their red Rioja are glorious wines, it is their amazing long barrel aged and lived whites that make this winery one of the world’s best and most interesting, especially this Viña Tondonia Gravonia Blanco. Sometimes in the past I’ve cringed at the mild oxidation, or sherry notes, and may not have given these wines their due respect, but at a recent tasting I was blown away at the freshness and detail of possessed in the López de Heredia white wines, like this one from the 2016 vintage, the current release! This pale straw/gold López de Heredia Viña Gravonia Rioja Blanco, which is a cuvée usually of 100% Viura, starts with that nutty rustic notes, but quickly turns toward a cool mineral/stony presence in the glass with persistent and subtle white flowers, chalk, bright citrusy fruits, with lemon/lime and tangerine, a zesty saline element and tart peach led orchard fruits that are flowing on a medium bodied delicately leesy and rounded palate, along with dried herbs, almond/pecan, verbena and orange rind. I hadn’t had one the whites in a while, so I am grateful to my Sommelier friend Lee Lightfoot, who now reps López de Heredia (Wine Wise) local to me, for sharing this tasty 2016 with a group of wine geeks, including me recently. This Gravonia is the less expensive version, as the Viña Tondonia Reserva Bianco is widely pricy and super rare, but a thrill to try.
In Rioja, these López de Heredia whites stand above and apart, they offer richness, complexity and give pleasure in a class hard to beat, with ultra traditional methods, organic farming and all native yeast fermentation, along with doing all their own cooperage work, from American oak, using big casks as not to crowd the wines for their long journey, making each highly individual offerings. Over time these wines typically gain body and length adding honeycomb notes, sweet lemon curd, more nutty elements and soft woody notes, but as been the case in my experience this one still is vivid and perky with brisk acidity. As mentioned above, López de Heredia’s Viña Tondonia was originally established back in in 1877 in Rioja’s main hub of Haro, now with close to 150 years of winemaking over four plus generations of the López de Heredia is certainly one of the old world’s great wineries. The family have long been crafting majestic and age worthy wines here, especially their long wood cask raised Tempranillo based Rioja Reservas, plus the long oak aged whites made from the local Viura grape mainly and Malvasia, that is found throughout ancient Mediterranean wine areas, which somehow even after 6 to 10 years in cask seem intensely fresh and pure. I should also note that López de Heredia does a fabulous Rosé, or Rosado as it is called here in Rioja, which also sees the long cask aging regime and maybe only second to Provence’s Clos Cibonne in uniqueness, style and with such a cool factor. I highly recommend all of the López de Heredia offerings, these are are wines Buy often for personal enjoyment, especially the red Viña Tondonia Rioja Reserva, which is a great wine, rivaling aged Bordeaux at a fraction of the cost!
($52 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive