1982 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia

Community Tasting Notes (16) Avg Score: 92.3 points

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  8/11/2023 - mick978@gmail.com Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Still with life but would not sit on this wine much longer. Very balanced. Would have you specter it to be closer to an early 1970s the way it’s drinking.

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  10/29/2022 - SimonG wrote: flawed

  Oh dear. Completely d.o.a. Good colour but maderised and tired. Nothing left. Worryingly the previous bottle of this that I came across in 2018 was similarly (though not quite as extremely) out of condition.

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  2/9/2021 - mclanew Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Slow oxed for an hour. Aromas of wild strawberry, forest floor and tobacco come from the glass. The palate is delicious, medium bodied, a little rustic, red fruited with some nice spice notes. The tannins are fully resolved and it does appear this is at the beginning of its decline but for now it’s in terrific form.

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  7/16/2020 - Seafoam Manor wrote:

  Unknown provenance. High shoulder fill and the cork was pretty wet nearly all the way through.
  
  This was showing its age with a pale garnet color. Good (med+) intensity on the nose, which, most remarkably, smelled almost exactly like an old cellar; lots of mushrooms, forest floor, a general mustiness, dry leaves, oak spice, with a layer of dried red fruit that was more of an ambient presence, rather than being right in your face.
  
  This took about 45 minutes to open up and, after that, it really only had about an hour drinking window. It was, expectedly, vert tertiary, with a lot of umami taking shape in a bit of a mushroom, leathery, gamy sort of vibe. There's a good dose of dry baking spice, dried orange peel, touches of fennel and clove, with the fruit profile leaning towards dried cranberry and cherry. There was a slightly oxidized feel to the whole thing. The tannins were totally integrated, with the acid providing most of the structure. This was probably more interesting than "wow, this is delicious".
  
  Outside of the past three months, I have no clue how this was stored, so this is a less than precise snapshot of where this wine is at, but I think this would have been much better five years ago.

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  6/7/2019 - Paul D wrote: 94 Points

  At la Cabotte, with AW and FC. This had a lovely warm, ripe nose, with red fruit, leather notes, touch of cinnamon. It was quite full, with a gentle but ample sweet core, soft tannins, fresh acidity and harmonious, long finish. Lovely.

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