We were smitten with the 1981 R Lopez de Heredia Vina Bosconia…our first foray into older (30+) Spanish wines. Price point was unbelievable ($130 retail) and it was absolutely enormous in flavor and texture. Cherrywood, dried fruit, smoke, spices. Crazily aromatic and delightful. So, because we’ve already bought a bunch of this so far, what else do you like in old Riojas that follow a similar pricing scale and set of flavors? We’re definitely keen on buying a mixed case of some more oldies.
Plenty of other Lopez vintages to choose from and you can’t go wrong with any of them. But what’s really great about them is that you don’t even have to pay $90+ for the Gran Reservas. The Reservas at $30-$40 are nearly as satisfying and have a similar aged wine character since they tend to be released at about 10 years of age.
Si! The beauty of the LdH’s is their long bottle aging prior to release. Given your note re: an '81, not sure how much age you are interested in but in a number of wine shops here in Seattle the 2001 Tondonia can currently be found on the shelf for $35-$40. I almost grabbed one today myself. A fantastic bottle of wine and fantastic QPR.
My experience has been that it’s hard to go right with them: Out of eight bottles of both Tondonia and Bosconia Gran Reservas, vintages from the early Seventies through 1991, I’ve had exactly one very good bottle. The rest weren’t even as good as so-so. They were bought from several retailers.
I did have an interesting bottle of the '93 Tondonia white this week.
Do not ignore the whites! I’ve had some truly eye-opening experiences with their older whites.
Glad to see I’m not the only one. I just don’t get the love others do. I’ve had at least a dozen asst wines over the last ten years and not a single memorable bottle. I’d be pretty sure that a case of LdH will provide a dozen unique experiences.
Do not ignore the whites! I’ve had some truly eye-opening experiences with their older whites.
The white I just had was the '93 Tondonia; not at all oxidized – which is kind of the rap on the whites – but it did have a distinctive, rather wooly aroma, not unlike Chenin Blanc. On the palate the wine was fresh as a daisy, with more than adequate acidity.
They’re really all great. But the 91 Bosconia GR is special even among the great ones
I’ve had fantastic (and pretty consistent) experiences, though I have heard others complain about bottle variation. If you can find the '68s, they’re sublime; I preferred the Bosconia to an Unico side by side (though both were excellent). '73 is also stil out there and very good. LdH thinks of Bosconia as their Burgundian wine and Tondonia as the Bordelais (hence the bottles, which is also an easy way to keep it straight); it’s a loose analogy but I get it.
Just to prove I’m not a zombie LdH cultist, I’m not a fan of the white or rose. They’re interesting but I don’t actually like them much. YMMV.
Their rose is definitely not my cup of tea, and I’m pretty easy to please with rose.
Off the top of my head, I can personally recommend highly the '76 & '81 LdH Bosconia GR (and, though still young, the '94 LdH Tondonia GR), '82 CVNE Imperial GR, '78, '79 & '85 Murrieta Ygay GR, '74 Contino Reserva, '64 Faustino I GR.
Happy hunting!
N
i am probably going to get some heat for this but here it is anyways: having consumed multiple bottles from various vintages of 70s and 80s of both bosconia and tondonia i see very little difference between the wines. sure if you have them side by side there are always different nuances. this can happen with the same wine but different bottle…
the house style, the age,… ultimately trumps most of the variations. i am posting this to save you a buck or two. if 76 is quite a bit more than 81, go for the lesser priced wine. very similar experience.
i am probably going to get some heat for this but here it is anyways: having consumed multiple bottles from various vintages of 70s and 80s of both bosconia and tondonia i see very little difference between the wines. sure if you have them side by side there are always different nuances. this can happen with the same wine but different bottle…
the house style, the age,… ultimately trumps most of the variations. i am posting this to save you a buck or two. if 76 is quite a bit more than 81, go for the lesser priced wine. very similar experience.
Provenance may have something to do with the older ones, as I get mine direct from the producer’s cellars.
Re: Tondonia vis-a-vis Bosconia, one may not see much of a difference but another may. I do.
Re: '81 and '76, if money doesn’t figure in the equation, I’d say get both and see for one’s self if one can see the differences.
Also keep an eye for the 42 and 47 bosconia gran reservas. Always hit or miss with a bottle that old but I picked up one of each via auction (both with suspect fills I might add which kept the price down) for around 250 each in the past year (which is a fraction of retail). Both provided incredibly memorable experiences and were well worth the price of admission.
Go for the LdH Gran Reserva. While the Reserva are OK, I still feel that the GRs are at least a notch or 2 better overall. The 1976 Bosconia GR is a very good wine. So is the '81.
Jess - if you had the 1981, you had one of the great vintages in Rioja. Pretty much any Gran Reserva from that vintage, or the 1982, will be great. It wasn’t until 94 and 95 that they had such good vintages again, and more recently they’ve had a string of them.
However, the wines of LdH are a little different in that even when you have a less-than-spectacular vintage, they can put out interesting wine. For example, 1997 was pretty crappy but they happen to have made a rosado. Kept it for a few years and then released it as a Gran Reserva. Not many producers would have done that.
Anyhow, easier to find would be vintages from the 1990s, and any of the classic Rioja houses are worth looking at. Going back, you can do worse than find something like the 1973, or say the Contino 1974 we had last night, or the CVNE Imperial GR 1954 we had last night. I don’t have any myself, sure wish I did.
The only wine that really matches LdH IMO would be the CVNE Imperial and more recently the Continos. Those tend to be a little sweeter with lots of mushroom after years of aging. If you go back that far, also look for Marques de Riscal - some of those are simply outstanding.