TN: '90 R. Lopez de Heredia Rioja

On his recent visit to France Santiago was kind enough to bring a 6 pack
of Spanish wines for us to try. (He performed the same service for the
Baudry clan, I'll be interested in finding out their impressions!)
Since we essentially never see Spanish wine here, this is a great chance
to broaden horizons.

So, this is labeled R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Reserva, Rioja
Alta, DOC, 12.5%. 1990. For me a rare white Rioja.

In spite of a bum taster I will do my best to elaborate.

The wine was a beautiful straw color, reminiscent of Vin Jaune but a
little lighter.

An intense and layered nose of pine resin, nuts and some apricot.

In the mouth very sappy and long, a clean acidic core with more nuts,
lemon, creme fraiche, lots of toast but not tannic, pine, apricots.
Guessing it spent a long time in the barrel. Very refreshing and
different for us -- my kids in particular found it a new taste, and
spent many minutes discussing the bouquet! -- and went very well with a
simple pork ragout.

Thanks Santiago! And also, I enjoyed our extended tasting and lunch
with Pierre and Marie Luneau-Papin, a fascinating tour not only through
the older muscadets but also the 2009 parcels in various stages of
fermentation. (Marie hasn't yet emailed me the tasting list, I will
have to remind her.)

-E

Hi Emery,

I knew you were going to like that López de Heredia. This wine, which is
absurdidly cheap for a 19 years old wine, spends 6 years in large barrels,
the rest of time until release ('91 is the current release, and it has just
replaced '90).

A technical sheet (in English) can be downloaded here:

http://www.lopezdeheredia.com/Fichas/TBR/TBR90GB.pdf

They actually have what I consider the perfect website for ease of
navigation and no-nonsense information easily available.

FWIW, I think you nailed the description. I look forward knowing your take
on the red.

s.

santiago wrote:
> Hi Emery,
>
> I knew you were going to like that López de Heredia. This wine, which is
> absurdidly cheap for a 19 years old wine, spends 6 years in large barrels,
> the rest of time until release ('91 is the current release, and it has just
> replaced '90).
>
Yes indeed, we liked it very much, thanks. 6 years in oak, that
explains a lot!

-E

On Nov 9, 8:10*am, Emery Davis <em...@laerton.oc.ku> wrote:
> santiago wrote:
> > Hi Emery,
>
> > I knew you were going to like that López de Heredia. This wine, whichis
> > absurdidly cheap for a 19 years old wine, spends 6 years in large barrels,
> > the rest of time until release ('91 is the current release, and it has just
> > replaced '90).
>
> Yes indeed, we liked it very much, thanks. *6 years in oak, that
> explains a lot!
>
> -E

Fun wines. The oak is as noted large barrels (and old, and with
tartrate cyrstal buildup). The GR goes 10 years!