2005 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia
Community Tasting Note
Praxis wrote:
Sunday, June 9, 2019 - Clear, dark yet translucent cochineal orange in color. The nose is deep, fresh, clean and amazingly complex with loads of matured boysenberries, blackberries, sour cherries with secondary notes of tobacco, herbs, flowers, gamey meat and spice. The palate is medium-bodied, old-world in style in the tradition of classical Rioja and ends with a long, fruity, savory finish. The flavor components of this wine feature a complex dry fruity core infused with subtle notes bitter herbs, fresh tobacco, fresh flower petals, camphor, dry clay soil, animal fur, old worn leather, garrigue and decomposing wood with a noticeable degree of oxidization which contributes to this in a good way. This is without a doubt a very sublime and complex Rioja Reserva with seamless and subtle transitions which makes it very challenging to delineate and describe. Surprisingly the oak and vanilla components were hardly noticeable given the fact that typical Rioja Reservas usually spends quite a considerable amount of time in American oak. I reckon that this young 14 year-old wine would benefit from another 5 years in the cellar.
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Comment posted by Deux Chevaux:
6/9/2019 1:53:00 PM - Very nice description. By the way, the winery, which makes its own barrels from American oak — one every day or so — goes out of its way to never expose its wines, red or white, to that new oak. Instead (and quite unlike many of its neighbors), each new barrel is seasoned with must, etc., so that the oak does not dominate the wine.
Comment posted by thesternowl:
6/10/2019 7:54:00 AM - Fantastic note and thanks for the additional detail about the cooperage DC!