Viña Tondonia 2002 Blanco Reserva

Wine: Viña Tondonia 2002 Blanco Reserva
Winery: R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia (Haro, Rioja Alta)
Appellation / Zone: D.O.Ca. Rioja
Varietals: 90% Viura, 10% Malvasía
ABV: 12.5%

Winemaking:
Grapes sourced from the right bank of the Ebro River (438–489m altitude) on alluvial and clay-limestone soils with gravel and pebbles. Fermentation took place in 60-hectoliter oak vats without temperature control. The wine was aged for 6 years in used 225-liter American oak barrels, with two manual rackings per year. Fined with fresh egg whites and bottled unfiltered directly from the cask. Limited production of 10,000 bottles. It rested for a minimum of 6 years in the winery’s underground cellars before its release in late 2015.

 

Tasting Notes

 

Appearance: Intense golden yellow; clean and brilliant. Displays vibrant copper and orange reflections with a high sheen. Customary glyceric texture with fine, persistent legs.

 

Nose: Deeply complex and highly demanding at first. It opens with a reductive profile of musty cellar notes, rackings, and seasoned wood that might be mistaken for TCA—far from it! The wine maintains the estate’s hallmark austerity, built on a fine woody note that supports turmeric, white flowers, and a backdrop of ripe fruit (dried apricots). Delicate, subtle, and pure yet elusive. It hints at more than it initially reveals: lemon brine, grapefruit, freshly cut grass, ivy, cabello de ángel, candied quince, bitter almonds, and star anise. These descriptors are tightly packed, suggesting a wine released perhaps prematurely.

 

Palate: It arrives with a crisp spark of acidity, tempered by an unctuous texture. Tense, vibrant, and slightly bitter, still showing the influence of its oak aging through a creamy, toasted backdrop. It is not yet a perfect wine—it is raw and still evolving—but it shines with its own light. It clings to the palate with an exceptionally long finish and a retronasal that oscillates between fruity sweetness and a sharp citric-acid drive.

 

Commentary:
Another magnificent vintage. It is difficult to overstate how López de Heredia consistently crafts these white Rioja masterpieces; these wines should be considered "historic" from the moment they are released. They are peerless in style, unbeatable in value, and defy common sense as a future investment. The quality gap between the Reserva and Gran Reserva whites continues to narrow. While we often celebrate mythical years like '42 or '64, we sometimes fail to see that a wine of equal stature is available today. This is not just a wine for cellaring, but for "stockpiling." One of the world’s truly great wines.

 

Personal Score: 93
Tasting Group Average: 95