2005 R. LOPEZ de HEREDIA VINA BOSCONIA RESERVA RIOJA- I bought quite a few bottles of this and the 04 and have sampled both for an idea as to drinking windows and mistakenly concluded the 05 is evolved enough to drink again sooner than later; this bottle was no where near ready; it was decanted an hour prior to serving and poured into a Riedel Vinum Bordeaux stem; the initial nose and taste did not represent the true experience as it took over 1/2 hour more for the wine to come together and once it did, at least decent enough pleasure was there to behold; the color was a youthful deep dark purple; the nose was very grapey with obvious yet to be integrated oak influence; on the palate, wild blackberry and blueberry was most prevalent; some vanilla came in and stayed, but a pine needle accent that was present early on, disappeared; its full bodied, round and very smooth and the nice, fresh blueberry fruit was the final taste impression.
Taking small sips allowed for a better experience for getting the true essence of the wine. Now, I`m going to wait for a few years before re-visiting and go to those from the 80s and older.
I had this at a restaurant a few weeks ago and loved it. Took about an hour to start opening up. It came across as more medium-bodied to me but I also thought it was fairly round and polished for a young Bosconia. I picked up three more the next day.
Thanks for the note. I’ve got one waiting for some geeks to get together and pull corks. I found the 2004 to be a bit too zippy for my tastes, esp. sans food. Hopefully the riper 2005 will be more pleasing…
4/22/2018 rated 92 points: Day 1: Opened a few hours ago. Nose of summer sausage, leather, muted fruits. The palate is thin and watered down. Going to hold off on this wine until day 2 as seems flawed. No score.
Day 2: Much more open for business but still not ready to be properly reviewed.
Day 3: Rounding into a significantly better wine. Burnt toast, green olives, raspberries, tobacco and rustic notes. This went from a watered down wine to quite concentrated in flavors. Some smoked meats and sour cherries on the palate. Not a long finish but flavorful. I will be trying this wine on day 4 and 5.
Current recommendation: If you pop and pour this disappointment will set in as many notes indicate. I would have dumped this at a tasting. This is an extremely young wine and will need a decade minimum. 90-92.
Day 4: Many characteristics as day 3 but acidity is sharp. Picking up some nice minerality and subtle spices. Rounding into form as an Old World Rioja wine. 92 plus
Recommendation: Hold for 5 to 10 years. This is why I started doing the 3 day wine review business model. So many of these wines are not pop and pour and this is a prime example of that. How a critic can score this on a quick sample taste is beyond me.
Day 5: Still has the laser like acidity. More concentration of flavors and has gone from a very light/watered down affair to great fruit and earth components. As many of complemented on Wine Berserkers these wines are long term agers.
Final recommendation: Drink on day 5 or hold for 10 years. (2726 views)
Interesting and understandable tracking results John. It certainly substantiates my general conclusions and you nailed one of the descriptors I kept looking for and never came up with and that is the sour cherries you found on Day 3. I got it early in the stages of my only Day 1.
Drank the last 1/2 of the bottle last night which gave it 48 hours of time since initial opening and found it to be much more evolved and more representative of the jewel i expected to experience with the first 1/2; thus, further substantiating it just needs time= HOLD for 5 + years.
Haven’t had the Bosconia from this year, Blake, but the 05 Tondonia last year, similarly shut pretty tight, took about 3 hours to think about giving anything up.
I had the '06 Tondonia 10 days ago and it was quite pleasant, but still fairly wound up. There was no problem drinking it, but it’s still pretty primary. Even the refrigerated leftovers weren’t that much more open.
It’s important to remember that the '06 Bosconia and '05 Tondonia Reservas are essentially (if not still literally) their current releases on both wines. Each time a new vintage becomes available locally, I always open a bottle right away. And, in all most every case, I find myself thinking “… yep, as usual, way too young at this point …” - and the remainder get stashed in the back of the cellar.
Over time, I’ve come to conclude that the aging curve of their Reservas (including the Tondonia Blanco) is waaayyy longer that most people expect. While the only ones I’ve tasted from '80s and earlier have been the GRs, I suspect that (at least in good to excellent vintages) the Reservas could last almost as long as the GRs (and, if I live long enough, I intend to do my best to find out!).
Michael, Im convinced now that the correct thing is to hold. In my initial post here, I mentioned having both of these early on and finding the 05 Bosconia to be ready to give after the first sampling. That certainly is not true of this 2nd bottle and its easy to conclude its in the closed down, tight stage and I just need to be patient.
Great notes. The price at purchase of $27 made this easy. I am glad to see it coming along. I usually veer towards the Tondonia in rojo and blanco, but the CT notes had looked good at the time I got a few of these Bosconia.
