R. Lopez De Heredia Tondonia Reserva 2011 750ml
Rated 95 by James Suckling
A traditional beauty that effuses iron, warm earth and savory tobacco leaves, together with plums, spices and orange zest. This is juicy and still tight, with firm but savory tannins. Medium-weight and quite zesty in texture, as is the case with the other López de Heredia reds tasted this session. Drink now or hold.
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Rated 94 by Wine Advocate
The 2011 Viña Tondonia Reserva is darker and shows riper fruit, a rounder palate and some dusty tannins. A year of ripeness, concentration and tannin, the wine is powerful with the finesse of Tondonia. Tasting this next to the textbook 2010 Tondonia revealed how this has more muscle and a wider back and the 2010 epitomizes the finesse and elegance. 270,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2019.
The 2011 Vina Tondonia Reserva Rioja was ordered during a run of disappointing wines. It has a youthful nose, probably still too young to broach, with black plum, clove, hints of star anis and smoke. Lovely definition, though not as powerful as other vintages tasted. The palate is quite firm and structured with grippy tannins that frame the dusky black fruit with veins of blue fruit towards the finish. There is a seriousness about this Tondonia that I appreciate, though frankly, I would cellar for another decade. Tasted at Premnord in Burgundy.
Rated 93 by Wine Spectator
Richly savory on the nose, this fresh, sinewy red features a minerally underpinning of petrol, earth, iron and salt to the flavors of juicy dried cherry and cranberry, red licorice and mandarin orange peel. Opens nicely in the glass and on the palate, with the persistent finish showing aromatic herbs and spices, plus more mineral notes. Tempranillo, Garnacho, Graciano and Mazuelo. Drink now through 2031. 19,166 cases made, 4,500 cases imported.
Don Rafael López de Heredia acquired the Tondonia vineyard from a group of clergy in 1913. Situated on the right bank of the river Ebro, in Rioja Alta, it stretches over 247 acres; the soil is alluvial clay with a high proportion of limestone. There are 4 varieties of red grapes planted in this vineyard—Tempranillo, Mazuelo, Graciano and Garnacho—as well as a few acres of white grapes (Viura and Malvasia) planted in the whitest soils, from which R. López de Heredia makes their Tondonia Blanco.