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| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.7 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 338 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by dbkitc on 5/9/2024 & rated 95 points: A wonderful bottle of wine that is even more complex than the bottle drunk in 2014. Mature pale ruby with a touch of burnt orange. The nose is a knockout: leather, wild black cherries, field herbs, black tea. Medium weight with good balancing acidity. Long. Interesting. Just super. (95) (285 views) | | | Tasted by Bubblesearcher23 on 2/9/2024 flawed bottle: Purchased from a private cellar in storage facility. Good fill, one finger from cork. Under the wax seal, the cork is soaked through. Wine was overly brown and oxidized, tasted dull and bitter, this wine has collapsed. Bummed. (1000 views) | | | Tasted by baroloboy55-2.0 on 1/6/2024 & rated 94 points: Wine is in a truly excellent place. Decanted for about 4 hours. Poised. Complete. Complex. Cedary/leathery noise Extremely well balanced with a pronounced, substantial inner core of bright red fruit from the garnacha. Everything you want with a mature Lopez -- on a high plateau of maturity that should hold for quite some time. No rush to enjoy but no reason not to. Perfect wine for a dreary wet winter's night. (1384 views) | | | Tasted by aChave on 11/17/2023 & rated 94 points: Simply delicious. Deep, red color, though a nice clear tone. Very complex fruit with notes of leather and beautiful red fruit flavors. Oak is still present, but very fine grained and doesn’t detract at all. Long finish. This is in an excellent place, but will last for many years. A treat to enjoy now. Decanted for two hours, then consumed over an additional two hours. 94++ (1464 views) | | | Tasted by SimonG on 10/6/2023 & rated 94 points: A Medlar lunch (Medlar, London): Served single blind with the 94 Riserva. A little flatter and more subdued on the nose with a touch of vanilla. More precision and a bit more acidity here, more energy. Really quite vibrant. This continues the progression of this wine over the past decade, bottles every three years or so have been getting steadily better. ****1/2. Interesting to compare this and the 94 Reserva, blind. It was an easy pair to separate, the R having more fruit on the nose, but the GR more acidity, line and energy on the palate and a little more oak influence apparent on the nose. (2024 views) | | | Tasted by Goldstone on 7/23/2023 & rated 93 points: Totally saturated cork under wax cap but perfectly intact and easily extracted. Totally transparent and almost watery faded damask colour… looks much older than a 1994. Nose is immediately high lifted piano notes of bitter orange marmalade but mellows within 2 hours in the glass into soft, perfumed musk, dried spices and rich dried red plums fruit. Palate is sharp, tart bitter orange marmalade with high acidity and light but very dry tannins but which segue into a cranberry sharpness but with a counterpoint of rounded confit plum and less dry than earlier. Really multi-dimensional and contemplative on the long, resonant finale. Gorgeous. No rush if you have this in your cellar but is fully open for business.93+ (2101 views) | | | Tasted by Paul D on 4/21/2023 & rated 95 points: With FC and AW and Hispania. Aromatic with dried red fruit, lots of tobacco, soil. Medium bodied, cool fruited, elegant, puts on a little weright with time in glass, lovely line and length, light almost fully resolved tannins, hallmark salinity also present, vibrant acidity, long dinish. Outstanding, now drinking well but of course no hurry. (2446 views) | | | Tasted by lifebreath on 4/9/2023 & rated 94 points: My last 4 bottles consumed 🥲 Fantastic wine. (2074 views) | | | Tasted by prof b on 4/4/2023: Truly amazing, just kept improving with air... and then it was gone. (2243 views) | | | Tasted by honest bob on 3/23/2023 & rated 88 points: Tondonia Gran Reserva 1934 - 1973 - 1994: From 75cl, rotten cork under wax capsule literally disintegrated into little pieces on extraction, my 5th bottle of this vintage in succession to be deficient in this way. Decanted and followed over 3 hours. Muted aromatics, perhaps a hint of chlorine bleach, alas nothing positive worth reporting here. Bright Tondonia acidity on the squeaky-textured entry, with a "youthful" thickness to the mid-palate, and some fine dark berry fruit coming as a bit of a shock after the featherlight 1973 tasted alongside. Why LdH chose to seal their premium product with such lousy corks in this vintage I don't know, but it's incredibly annoying to have bought more than a case of 1994 GR and keep on opening bottles which might have been outstanding, but just aren't, almost certainly due to the appalingly bad corks used. The 1934 two glasses down this mini-vertical boasted more concentrated and frankly fresher dark-red mid-palate fruit, despite being 60 years older. Perhaps this shows the difference between a truly great and a merely very good vintage? But perhaps also the difference between a functional cork (1934) and a spongey mess (1994)? 88-89P(?) (2210 views) | | | Tasted by Bromie on 12/31/2022 & rated 90 points: Decanted for 1 hour. Some bricking. Subtle nose and still fruit on palate with some secondary flavours. A bit disappointing compared to previous bottles. Drink up or just not a great bottle? (2372 views) | | | Tasted by dougsmith on 12/31/2022 & rated 89 points: Wet cork, but not leaking. Nose of cocoa, tobacco, and some herbal notes. Somewhat light bodied on the palate, good acid spine but muted flavor. (1590 views) | | | Tasted by honest bob on 11/25/2022 & rated 91 points: From 75cl, disgracefully poor, rotten cork under the fancy wax seal, my 4th successive closure disaster for this wine. Once again: you squeeze the cork—it's literally like a sponge—wine drips out the end. Absurd; an insult to the consumer. Decanted 1 hour, improved until final drop. Amazingly—finally—bottle no. 4 isn't faulty. Yes, the wine is muted, yes, it would probably have tasted much better had it been bottled under screwcap (or, radical idea, under a decent–quality cork), but after three ruined bottles it was a relief to smell healthy dill and old oak, and taste beautiful wild strawberries in a silky, mature, resolved 28-year-old wine. A shadow of what it should have been, but perhaps contempt for the consumer was part of the LdH ethos at this stage of the bodega's history. Now I look forward to returning to the other mature vintages I acquired back in my Tondonia phase, and just hope the winery used better materials for the 1934, 1970, 1973, 1981, 1985, 1991… than they did when bottling the 1994. 91P (2040 views) | | | Tasted by redtooth113 on 11/7/2022 & rated 95 points: Used an ah so to get at the cork. Even then it was iffy. But it came out in one piece. It was pretty saturated and smelled borderline funky. Just let the bottle breath a half hour then poured. Pale garnet, cyrstal clear. No funk on the nose at all. Subdued but bright cherry notes. This was an ethereal wine, seamless and at its peak. Balanced, perhaps a bit one dimensional, but it's a fantastic rioja dimension. Just a hint of leather, the rest was cherries. One of the best wines I've personally tasted, completely loyal to its tradition. Proudly old world, old Spain. Loved it. I wouldn't pair food with this. Maybe just some thinly sliced ham or wild boar and that's it. Certainly no involved dish and certainly not cheese. This is a wine to be enjoyed and savored as it is, on its own terms. It could probably age another five to ten years no problem, but it's at a glorious stage right now and I see no reason to wait. (2026 views) | | | Tasted by Rani on 10/29/2022 & rated 91 points: Tasted blind next to the 1995. Retocent nose of sour cherries and dry leaves. Leaner than the great 1995 tasted beside it. Highly toned, notes of red fruit and dried herbs. Was overshadowed by the 1995 but very nice now. (1910 views) | | | Tasted by DrZett on 10/17/2022 & rated 91 points: Cork was completely wet but not leaking. Lots of beautiful tertiary notes in the nose and on the palate. Dried mushrooms, forest floor, tobacco, some blueberries, blackberries and super soft vanilla notes. Medium bodied with a lively acidity. Tannins are elegant and perfectly integrated. Great structure and complexity. Overall balance is very good - although some more fruit notes would have been nice. Long finish. (IG) (1617 views) | | | Tasted by fcxj on 8/25/2022 & rated 92 points: Not quite the refinement of 1994 Unico, but interesting contrast with more overt American oak vanilla flavors imparted. Similarly open and accessible. (2366 views) | | | Tasted by Rani on 3/31/2022 & rated 92 points: Tasted blind. Was very tight even with air. Notes of earth, nice acidity, vegetable soup, and dark berries. A rather masculine bottle of Tondonia. (2818 views) | | | Tasted by honest bob on 2/18/2022 flawed bottle: From 75cl, cork desperately wanted to take refuge in the bottle, so I removed the bottle-neck with port tongs. Decanted 2 hours. This is the 4th bottle of LdH 1994 GR which to me just stinks of mould and mild TCA. If I blow out through my nose while taking a sip, I can—almost—enjoy a mature, soft-red fruited Rioja with still-present but civilised tannins and all the usual vanilla/dill etc. descriptors. But why should you have to hold your nose when drinking a wine which cost 60 EUR/75cl back in the day and is currently quoted 162 EUR at auction? Were this the 1934, or the 1954, or the 1964, or another legendary vintage too ancient for me to have bought and cellared it since release... then perhaps I wouldn't feel so fleeced. Oh dear, 9 bottles to go. Bummer. NR (2877 views) | | | Tasted by Paul D on 9/19/2021 & rated 93 points: 1/4, cork fully soaked. #779658.
Medium garnet core, touch of mahogany, pale wide mahogany rim. Developed nose, quite saline, tobacco too, underlying dried red fruits. Medium bodied, spicy and saline, tobacco in abundance too, soft tannins, vibrant acidity, excellent length with spice and a touch of orange peel on the finish. Excellent. (3820 views) | | | Tasted by JordiA on 9/4/2021 & rated 95 points: 3rd bottle opened in the last 8 years. At a very good point to consume. However, still good acidity, so with more years to improve. Amazing in nose. It is silky, elegant, a classic Rioja. (3214 views) | | | Tasted by NoahCap on 8/22/2021: My first experience with a Heredia Gran Reserva, so I was surprised by how restrained it is, elegant, silky, graceful. I bought this at a discount bc the label was all molded up, which I don't mind at all. But the cork was completely soaked through, which had me a little worried. Cork came out in one piece and it turns out there was nothing to worry about. The wine was sound as sound can be.
The appearance is a lovely transparent ruby that looks incredibly youthful. You could have convinced me by appearance alone that this is a 2yr old Pinot. The nose is a different story though, which shows some degree of maturity. There are high toned red fruits (esp cranberry), some herbal licorice-y type aromas, along with plenty of tertiaries from aging- worn leather, saddle soap, shoe polish, and some deep dark decaying(?) wood smells. Ever spent time in a cobbler's shop? There are fruit smells, plus notes of cobbler's shop.
The flavors, again, are surprisingly restrained. It's a complex wine, but a quiet one. You really have to pay attention to it. Again, cranberry is the dominate fruit flavor, but there is a whole host of other earthy woodsy tones battling it out underneath. Tannins are basically non-existent; this is smooth smooth smooth. I'm not a good blind taster, and there is no way I would have guessed Rioja. Like many other CellarTracker reviewers, I thought of aged Burgundy, maybe from Vosne or Chambolle.
I've got to say that I am impressed by the restraint of the producer here. It takes guts to have a top wine that is so quiet, restrained, almost shy. This is the opposite of a big Cab shouting "Look at me!". Seems like so many wines try to outdo the next guy with tannins and extract, but that's not the case here. One might worry that as the new Gran Reserva releases start coming into the 21st century that we might get some extract bomb, but this producer is so staunchly old school, that I'm not worried at all. (3390 views) | | | Tasted by NY Wino on 7/26/2021 & rated 92 points: Decanted and drank over 4 hours. The wine has held up beautifully, with little/no oxidation. Excellent fruit, good acidity, long and tasty finish. Can’t see it improving from here. (2916 views) | | | Tasted by 560 B&W on 7/7/2021 & rated 94 points: Amazingly youthful. (2829 views) | | | Tasted by Peet Strand on 6/14/2021 & rated 95 points: Fantastisc vintage wine (2289 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (4/24/2018)
(López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Rioja Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Josh Raynolds
Vinous, 2017 New Releases From Spain, Part 1 (Jan 2017) (1/1/2017)
(R. Lopez De Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva (rioja)) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (11/25/2014)
(López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Rioja Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Josh Raynolds
Vinous, September/October 2012, IWC Issue #164
(R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva Rioja) Subscribe to see review text. | The World of Fine Wine, September 2010, Issue #29
(Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Sarah Jane Evans MW
Decanter
(López de Heredía, Viña Tondonia, Gran Reserva, Rioja, Mainland Spain, Spain, Red) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JancisRobinson.com and Vinous and The World of Fine Wine and Decanter. (manage subscription channels) |
| R. López de Heredia Producer WebsiteTempranillo BlendTempranillo is the backbone of wines made ihvhhcn the best well-known Spanish regions Rioja and Ribera del Duero, but is also grown as far afield as Mexico and Australia.
As a flavor profile, red fruits like strawberries and cherries can predominate - but with a rustic edge. The Many wines made from Tempranillo will spend a few years in barrel and bottle before reaching the consumers . Many Tempranillo-based wines see a few years of oak - add that to a few years of bottle and the wine can give a subtle - and occasionaly not-so-subtle - leathery mouthfeel. The combination of the tart fruit and tannins make this wine very food friendly.Gran ReservaTradition Ascendant in Rioja
By ERIC ASIMOV
August 11, 2009
One of my stops on my recent trip to Spain was Rioja, where I was able to spend quite a bit of time at the venerable winery López de Heredia, which is the focus of my column this week.
As those of you who have been reading this blog for a long time may guess, I’ve had a long love affair with the wines of López de Heredia. In fact, my second post ever was about its wonderful rosado, which, unusually for any wine, let alone a rosé, is generally released when it’s about 10 years old.
It’s almost reflexive when talking about López to describe it as classic or unyielding, because it is quite immune to the trend-following that so often guides decision-making in the world of wine. That is true. But it took me this visit to realize that in its own way, López de Heredia is now a cutting-edge winery.
It’s a case of what goes around comes around, as forward-thinking winemakers have in many ways come around to López de Heredia’s ways of doing things. This is particularly true in the vineyard, where its gentle, natural viticultural approach is now the preferred approach my many of the world’s great producers. In the winery, it’s harder to say, except that Lopez’s gentle handling, reliance on natural yeasts and overall artisanal methods are likewise an ideal today.
Of course, the fact that Lopez uses old barrels, including enormous wooden fermentation vessels that have been around almost as long as the 132-year-old winery itself, leaves a lot of room for debate. Very few producers use barrels that old, though one that comes to mind is Biondi Santi in Montalcino.
Still, styles oscillate over the years, and I believe we are now retreating from an era of overly oaky wines, back to wines where the barrel regimen is as much if not more about imparting texture as it is flavor.
In fact, oaky flavors can be important in López de Heredia wines. All you have to do is taste one of its wonderful older white wines, like the 1991 reserva, to taste the hazelnut, coconut flavors of American oak beautifully integrated with the wine. And if you ever get a chance to taste a rare 1964 white, as I did in Rioja, you will be rewarded with a rich, pure wine tasting almost entirely of minerals.
The strange thing about López de Heredia is that because its wines have never changed, people tend to think of the company as a dour, humorless, rigid sort of place, haunted by the imperative of adhering to tradition. Nothing could be further from the truth.
For instance, while the winery is largely a sturdy example of late 19th century architecture, the new boutique for visitors, designed by the Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, is fully in keeping with the non-linear architectural look of modern Rioja. It was in the boutique that I watched one afternoon as Maria José López de Heredia, along with her sister, Mercedes, and father, Pedro, about to turn 81, regaled tourists with a boisterous Spanish drinking song.
Many people might be surprised, for example, at some of the winery’s plans for tourism. Maria José, who often takes the lead role in public but runs the winery with her sister, father and brother, Julio César, would like to build a little train line to take tourists back and forth between the winery and its most famous vineyard, Viña Tondonia, just across the Ebro River.
“Why not?’’ she said. “It’s very important to teach people, and it’s easier to teach them if you give them a good time.’’
Of course, she has a serious reason as well. “It’s impossible for people to understand the soul of a wine if they don’t know how the grapes are grown,’’ she told me.
For people who do have the opportunity to visit López de Heredia, doubtless the most striking moment is seeing the thousands of bottles of gran reserva wines, aging in a cellar covered in mold and cobwebs. For people who are used to the squeaky clean hygiene of New World cellars (or for somebody like my mother, for example, who did not permit dirt in her kitchen) such a sight might prove troubling.
But the mold and cobwebs are typical of more than a few old Old World cellars, where they are considered an intrinsic part of the terroir. Maria José, for example, insists that the mold and webs are absolutely beneficial to the wines, and that cleaning them out under the mistaken notion of pursuing hygiene would have many unintended consequences.
“It’s protection, not affliction!’’ she said, and I don’t doubt her. Her wines, at least, are paragons of purity.Viña TondoniaJay Miller in WA, June 2010
A visit to the venerable Bodega Lopez de Heredia, located in the Rioja Alta capital of Haro, is akin to entering a time machine taking you back 100 years. Construction of the Bodega began in 1877 and continues without any apparent changes to the present day. The winery is operated by the voluble Maria Jose Lopez de Heredia, her sister Mercedes, and their father Pedro, still active into his 80s. All of the wines are produced from estate grown bush vines. Tondonia and Bosconia are two different vineyards; Bosconia has a larger percentage of Tempranillo and a different orientation. For an excellent overview of the estate, read Eric Asimov’s blog in the New York Times dated August 11, 2009.
Map on weinlagen-infoSpain Vinos de España - Wines of Spain (Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior) | Wikipedia
Wine Map on weinlagen-info
Spain is the third largest wine producing nation in the world, occupying the majority of the Iberian Peninsula with vast diversity in climate, culture, and of course, wine. From inky, dark reds of the [Priorat] to dry, white Finos from Andalusia, Spain can easily boast of elaborating a wide variety of notable styles. Within Spain there are currently 62 demarcated wine regions, of which a handful have gained international recognition: [Rioja], Priorat and [Ribera del Duero]. Yet these regions are only a small sample of the high quality wines Spain produces. Regions such as Cava, Penedes, Somontano, Galicia, Rueda and Jerez are only a few of the numerous regions worthy of exploration throughout Spain. Spain can also lay claim to having the most land under vine in the world, growing up to, by some accounts, 600 indigenous varietals of which Tempranillo is their most well known. Other popular varietals include [Garnacha], Bobal and Monastrell for reds and for whites; the infamous [sic] Palomino Fino grape which is used in the production of sherry wine, Pedro Ximenez in Montilla Morilles, Albarino used in the creation of the bright, effervescent wines of Galicia, and Verdejo in Rueda. - Source: - Catavino.net
Spain is not in the forefront of winemaking for its dessert wines, other than for its sweet wines from Sherry country including the highly revered Olorosos (when sweetened). But apart from Sherry Spain has a range of styles of dessert wines, ranging from the those made from the Pedro Ximenez grape primarily in Jerez and Montilla-Moriles) to luscious, red dessert wines made in the Mediterranean from the Garnacha (Grenache) grape. Some good Moscatels are made in Mallorca, Alicante and Navarre. The northwest corner of Spain, Galicia, with its bitter Atlantic climate, is even making dessert wines, called “Tostadillos” in the village of Ribadivia (similar to France’s “Vin de Paille”). The Canary Islands have made interesting dessert wines for centuries (they are mentioned by Shakespeare, for example) and in recent years the quality of winemaking has been improved and the Canary Islands wines are being better marketed now. The winemaking styles for “Vinos Dulces” are also diverse, from “Late Harvest” (Vendimia Tardía) to “Fortified Wines” (Fermentación Parcial). Based on in-spain.info.La Rioja Consejo Regulador DOC Rioja - Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja
Map on weinlagen-infoLa Rioja Alta Map on weinlagen-infoRioja Consejo Regulador DOC Rioja - Control Board of the D.O.Ca. Rioja
HISTORY
The wine region of La Rioja in Spain was first demarcated by the area's governing body, the Consejo Regulador, in 1926. The region extends for approximately 120 kilometres along both sides of the Ebro River and is, at its widest point, bounded by mountains on either side. In fact, the word 'Rioja' is a derivation of the two words 'Rio' (River) and 'Oja (the name of a tributary of the Ebro that runs right through La Rioja creating a series of microclimates and providing much needed water for the vines).
La Rioja has always been a vital part of Spain's history. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Moors, and finally, medieval Crusaders have all played a part in the area's history. The Romans, however, made wine a part of their culture wherever they travelled, and La Rioja was no exception. Ancient sites of Roman wineries still exist in and around the area today.
After the Romans came the Moors, and winemaking all but ceased. It wasn't until after the famous 'El Cid' liberated Spain, and medieval Christianity brought trade via the Crusaders through the region, that it flourished again. The Benedictine monks of Cluny in Burgundy, known for their viticulture, helped to establish three monasteries in the area. The vines they planted were mostly white grapes. In the fourteenth century, English traders acquired a taste for a local Rioja wine, which was a blend of white and red wines called Blancos Pardillos. Over time, development of lighter reds came about satisfying eighteenth century English and French courts.
The real improvements to Rioja's viticulture began around 1780 when the need to prolong wine during transport brought about experimentation with different woods and preservatives. Studies were made of the techniques used by great chateaux in Bordeaux. With the outbreak of the Peninsular War, progress was halted until 1852, when the Bordelais came south to Rioja seeking vines because their vineyards had been blighted with oidium. French winemaking methods were eagerly taken up by great rivals the Marques de Murrieta and Marques de Riscal (who both claim to have been the first in Rioja to make wine in the Bordeaux fashion).
When phylloxera devastated Bordeaux in the 1870s and the French influence really took hold in Rioja, many of the region's finest bodegas started production on what we now consider as the great wines of Rioja. It’s important to remember that Bordeaux winemaking methods then were very different to those employed today in France, and involved long ageing in barrel, a factor that the Riojans took up enthusiastically. So enthusiastically in fact that to this day there are a number of Bodegas that still make their wine in a surprisingly similar fashion to that of the Bordelais in the later part of the 1800s and this also explains why oak ageing is such an important part of Riojan winemaking.
USE OF OAK
Pronounced vanilla flavours in the wines are a trademark of the region though some modern winemakers are experimenting with making wines less influenced by oak. Originally French oak was used but as the cost of the barrels increased many bodegas began to buy American oak planks and fashion them into barrels at Spanish cooperages in a style more closely resembling the French method. This included hand splitting the wood, rather than sawing, and allowing the planks time to dry and 'season' in the outdoors versus drying in the kiln. In recent times, more bodegas have begun using French oak and many will age wines in both American and French oak for blending purposes.
In the past, it was not uncommon for some bodegas to age their red wines for 15-20 years or even more before their release. One notable example of this is Marqués de Murrieta which released its 1942 vintage Gran Reserva in 1983 after 41 years of ageing. Today most bodegas have shifted their winemaking focus to wines that are ready to drink sooner with the top wines typically ageing for 4-8 years prior to release though some traditionalists still age longer. The typical bodega owns anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 oak barrels.
The use of oak in white wine has declined significantly in recent times when before the norm was traditionally 2-5 years in oak. This created slightly oxidised wines with flavours of caramel, coffee, and roasted nuts that did not appeal to a large market of consumers. Today the focus of white winemakers has been to enhance the vibrancy and fruit flavours of the wine.
WINE CLASSIFICATION
Most Riojan Bodegas believe that the ageing of a wine should be the responsibility of the producer rather than that of the consumer, and this is why much Rioja is more mature than wines from other countries. Rioja red wines are classified into four categories. The first, simply labelled 'Rioja', or 'Sin Crianza' (meaning 'without ageing') is the youngest, spending less than a year in oak. A "Crianza" is wine aged for at least two years, at least one of which is in oak. 'Reserva' is aged for at least three years, of which at least one year is in oak. Finally, 'Gran Reserva' wines have been aged at least two years in oak and three years in bottle. Reserva and Gran Reserva wines are not necessarily produced each year. Also produced are wines in a semi-crianza style, those that have had a couple of months of oak influence but not enough to be called a full crianza. The designation of Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva might not always appear on the front label but may appear on a neck or back label in the form of a stamp designation known as Consejo.
SUB REGIONS
Rioja Alta
Located on the western edge of the region, and at higher elevations than the other areas, the Rioja Alta is known for more fruity and concentrated wines which can have very smooth texture and mouth feel.
Rioja Alavesa
Despite sharing a similar climate as the Alta region, the Rioja Alavesa produces wines with a fuller body and higher acidity. Vineyards in the area have a low vine density with large spacing between rows. This is due to the relatively poor conditions of the soil with the vines needing more distance from each other and less competition for the nutrients in the surrounding soil.
Rioja Baja
Unlike the more continental climate of the Alta and Alavesa, the Rioja Baja is strongly influenced by a Mediterranean climate which makes this area the warmest and driest of the Rioja. In the summer months, drought can be a significant viticultural hazard, though since the late 1990s irrigation has been permitted. Temperatures in the summer typically reach 95°F. Twenty percent of the vineyards actually fall within the Navarra appellation but the wine produced from the grapes is still allowed to claim the Rioja designation. The predominant grape here is the Garnacha which prefers the hot conditions, unlike the more aromatic Tempranillo. Consequently Baja wines are very deeply coloured and can be highly alcoholic with some wines at 18% alcohol by volume. The wines typically do not have much acidity or aroma and are generally used as blending components with wines from other parts of
the Rioja.
The Riojans are master blenders (as they have to be because there are relatively few single estates in the area, the norm being to blend from a wide variety of vineyards and wine areas). Consequently they are able to reduce vintage variation by careful blending and many of the best wines vary relatively little between vintages.
VITICULTURE & GRAPES
Rioja wines are normally a blend of various grape varieties, and can be either red (tinto), white (blanco) or rosé (rosado). Rioja has a total of 57,000 hectares cultivated, yielding 250 million litres of wine annually, of which 85% is red. The harvest time for most Rioja vineyards is September-October with the northern Rioja Alta having the latest harvest in late October. The soil here is clay-based with a high concentration of chalk and iron (which provides the redness in the soil that may be responsible for the region's name, Rioja, meaning red). There is also significant concentration of limestone, sandstone and alluvial silt.
Among the Tintos, the best-known and most widely-used variety is Tempranillo. Other grapes used include Garnacha Tinta, Graciano, and Mazuelo. A typical blend will consist of approximately 60% Tempranillo and up to 20% Garnacha, with much smaller proportions of Mazuelo and Graciano. Each grape adds a unique component to the wine with Tempranillo contributing the main flavours and ageing potential to the wine; Garnacha adding body and alcohol; Mazuelo adding seasoning flavours and Graciano adding additional aromas.
With Rioja Blanco, Viura is the prominent grape (also known as Macabeo) and is sometimes blended with some Malvesia and Garnacha Blanca. In the white wines the Viura contributes mild fruitness, acidity and some aroma to the blend with Garnacha Blanca adding body and Malvasia adding aroma. Rosados are mostly derived from Garnacha grapes. The 'international varieties' of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot have gained some attention and use through experimental plantings by some bodegas but their use has created wines distinctly different from the typical Rioja.
Some of the most sought after grapes come from the limestone/sandstone based 'old vine' vineyards in the Alavesa and Alta regions. These 40 year old plus vines are prized due to their low yields and more concentrated flavours. A unique DO regulation stipulates that the cost of the grapes used to make Rioja must exceed by at least 200% the national average of wine grapes used in all Spanish wines.
VINTAGE CHART
Rioja (Red) Year %
2004 Superb vintage, classic wines Drink or Hold 94
2003 Hot, dry year, long-ageing wines Drink or Hold 91
2002 Smallest vintage in 10 years. Variable quality.
Keep to top names Drink or Hold 87
2001 Excellent year for long ageing Reservas
and Gran Reservas Drink or Hold 94
2000 A generally good vintage with fine Reservas Drink or Hold 89
1999 Smaller vintage of good quality Drink or Hold 88
1998 Good vintage Drink or Hold 97
1997 Unexciting so far, but quaffable Drink or Hold 84
1996 Good year, plenty of ageing potential Drink or Hold 89
1995 Very good vintage, Reservas now showing excellent fruit Drink or Hold 92
1994 Outstanding, some great long-ageing wines Drink or Hold 94
1993 Lesser wines, apart from best-known names Drink 77
1992 Rather light vintage Drink 80
1991 Still improving, average quality Drink or Hold 85
1990 Fairly ordinary but quaffable Drink 84
1989 Good, firm structure Drink 88
Rioja Reserva & Gran Reserva – Vintages of the Eighties Year %
1989 Goodish vintage, well balanced Drink 88
1988 Fairly good vintage, well balanced wines Drink 88
1987 Very attractive vintage, now at peak Drink 90
1986 Average year, now drinking well Drink 87
1985 Average year, now drinking well Drink 87
1984 Disappointing, with problem weather Avoid 80
1983 Don't keep it any longer Drink 86
1982 Now past its best Drink 83
1981 Superb wines, finest will keep longer Drink 90
1980 Average vintage, don't keep any longer Drink 86
More vintage charts
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