Savory berries, plums, iron, minerals, tobacco, ink and blood oranges. Very bright, juicy and structured, with sensational balance, aged savoriness and brightness that are typical of Tondonia reds. Beautiful now.
James Suckling | 96 JS
The 2012 Viña Tondonia Reserva comes from a very dry year, with 25% less rain than the average (at the time), resulting in lower yields of very healthy grapes that delivered wines with nice balance between alcohol and polyphenols, making it very apt for the aging in barrel. It had a slightly longer élevage in barrel, six years. The wine is aromatic with a developed profile, spicy and tertiary (forest floor, a touch of brick dust and iodine), complex and nuanced. The palate is full and round, with polished tannins and a long, dry finish. It has a textbook Tondonia nose and profile. 250,000 bottles produced.
Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RP
All you can expect from a classical Viña Tondonia with its focused intensity and muscular yet very elegant tannins. At once assertive and silky, with juicy red and blue fruit gliding through the palate while being pleasantly pulled back by an energetic, iodine verve. Subtle, hovering, brooding notes of tobacco, mocha and wet forest floor. 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 10% Graciano and Mazuelo, bottled in January 2022 having matured in 225-litre American oak barrels for six years.
Decanter Magazine | 94 DEC
The 2012 “Viña Tondonia” Reserva from López de Heredia has just been released. The wine is crafted this year from the same cépages as was the case with the lovely 2011 version, which I reported on in the last issue: seventy percent tempranillo, twenty percent garnacha and ten percent from a mix of mazuelo and graciano. The wine spent six years in older American oak barrels of two hundred-twenty-five liter capacity prior to bottling. The wine is nicely classic in its octane in this vintage, coming in at an even thirteen percent and offering up a complex bouquet of red and black raspberries, spiced meats, cigar wrapper, salty soil tones, clove-like Rioja spices, woodsmoke and a bit of spicy oak. On the palate the wine is vibrant, full-bodied, focused and still quite youthful at twelve years of age, with a lovely core of fruit, excellent soil signature and grip, ripe, well-integrated tannins and a long, well balanced and complex finish. This is certainly approachable, but my inclination would be to bury it away in the cellar for another five to ten years, let its tannins properly fall away and really enjoy the fireworks! (Drink between 2024 - 2075)
John Gilman | 93+ JG
