Lopez de Heredia Tondonia Reserva Rioja 2013

Founded in Haro in 1877, R. López de Heredia is the great traditionalist of Rioja, a bodega that still runs its own cooperage and ages everything in American oak made on site. The Reserva comes from Viña Tondonia itself: more than 100 hectares of alluvial clay and limestone draped over a bend in the Ebro, planted beginning in 1913. Tempranillo leads the blend, joined by Garnacha and smaller portions of Graciano and Mazuelo, fermented with native yeasts in old wooden vats, then aged six years in barrel with twice-yearly rackings, fined with fresh egg whites, and bottled unfiltered. The 2013 is classic Tondonia: dried cherry, tobacco leaf, cedar, and dried orange peel on a precise, dry, medium-bodied frame, garnet in the glass with an orange-tinged rim. Released only when the family judges it ready, roughly a decade after harvest.