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Winery: Bodegas López de Heredia

Country / Region: Spain / Rioja

Date Winery was established: 1877

Grape Variety: Tempranillo Blend

Year the vintage was first released: 1942

Alcohol Content / Volume: 13.5% / 750ml

Ratings: 94 pts Tim Atkin

Good To Know: Highly regarded as one of the world's greatest wine estates, Bodegas López de Heredia Vina Tondonia is highly renowned for their traditional Rioja winemaking style focusing mainly on Tempranillo with the addition of lesser amounts of Garnacha and Mazuelo in their blends. Also amazing to note is their use of very old oak vats of varying sizes and wood origin as well as the deep, dark network of tunnels where their cellars for aging wines are located. These network of cellars have produced evocative names such as El Cemeterio and La Dolorosa.

Founded in 1877, Vina Tondonia's sprawling winery complex in the capital of Rioja Alta, Haro, is one of the oldest in the city and one of the first in the region. Their vineyards extend to around 100 hectares on an amazing site of alluvial clay with high traces limestone; over a gorgeous view of the Ebro river. The company that owns Vina Tondonia, R. Lopez de Heredia also own 3 other vineyards in the region: Viñas Cubillo, Bosconia and Zaconia.

The 2015 Viña Bosconia Reserva represents a magnificent intersection of R. López de Heredia's staunchly traditional winemaking and one of the most celebrated Rioja vintages of the decade. The 2015 growing season in Rioja Alta was widely lauded by critics and winemakers alike as an exceptional, "textbook" year, characterized by ideal weather conditions that allowed for flawless, even ripening and impeccably healthy grapes. For the Tempranillo-dominant Bosconia—a cuvée historically beloved for its robust, earthy, and somewhat Burgundian profile—this idyllic vintage translates into profound concentration and vibrant aromatic intensity. The perfect climate of 2015 gifted the wine with a plush core of ripe red and dark fruits that perfectly balances the estate's signature savory notes of forest floor, dried blood orange, leather, and sweet spice developed during its extensive aging in old American oak. The true significance of the 2015 Bosconia lies in its impeccable harmony; it captures the generous, expressive fruit of a flawless harvest while maintaining the precise acidity and formidable tannic backbone required to age gracefully for decades in the cellar.