R. Lopez de Heredia Rioja Vina Tondonia Reserva 2002
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Spirits
Wine &
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacho, 10% Graciano and Mazuelo
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
Silky and racy, this traditional-style red delivers dried cherry, tobacco, orange peel, vanilla and spice flavors that mingle over light, firm tannins, fueled by crisp acidity. Not a big wine, but has energy and length. Drink now through 2022.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2002 Vina Tondonia Reserva is a blend of 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacho and 10% between Mazuelo and Graciano sourced from their Tondonia vineyard located in a large meander of the Ebro River on the outskirts of Haro. It is aged for six years in used barrels, racked twice per year during its upbringing and fined with egg whites before being bottled unfiltered. It has a slightly reduced nose that benefits from air contact, with shy aromas of cherries in liqueur, tea leaves, fine leather, game, blood, spice box and cigar ash, showing some evolution. The light to medium-bodied palate is balanced, with high acidity, but perhaps a little fragile, showing the difficulties of the vintage, as 2002 was a very difficult year in Rioja. 250,000 bottles were produced. Drink 2014-2019.
-
Wine & Spirits
This was not an easy vintage in Rioja, but the Lopez de Heredia family proved it was possible to grow a light and pretty wine. It may be a little dilute, but it’s also classical, with vibrant fruit that gains presence as it takes on air. It will add complexity and a cracked pepper edge to roast leg of lamb.
Other Vintages
2011-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Spirits
Wine & -
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James - Decanter
-
Spirits
Wine &
-
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James -
Spirits
Wine &
-
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine -
Spirits
Wine &
- Decanter
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Spirits
Wine &
-
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spirits
Wine & -
Spectator
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James -
Spirits
Wine & -
Spectator
Wine
It all started in the middle of the nineteenth century when French negociants visited the Rioja region to find alternative sources of quality grapes to transform into wine, since the phylloxera epidemic had decimated their vineyards. Our founder, Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic student in the art of wine making, followed closely in their footsteps.
Don Rafael fell in love with the region and especially the area around Haro, the mythical capital of the Rioja Alta region. He observed that there was a magical combination of soil and climate that would offer the perfect environment for producing wine that would eventually become world famous. Around 1877 he began the design and construction of the complex that is today known as the López de Heredia bodega (winery), the oldest in Haro and one of the first three houses in the Rioja region.
For over a century our emotions have been rooted in our love and passion for this land and its harvest. We cherish our heritage, and this combination of love and the rigorous quality standards we apply, have become our trademark and remains our maxim for today and the future.
Bodegas López de Heredia stands out as one of the few family-run bodegas regulated by the Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja - DOC (Appellation region).
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.