TN: 2002 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Bosconia

WINE TALK
1
  • 2002 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Bosconia - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja (4/4/2011)
    Ruby red. Great nose showing red fruit, herbal notes, florals and some orange peel. This needed to breathe a bit, but once air hit, what a magnificent bottle of wine. Medium bodied and in perfect balance even in this youthful stage. Tart cherry and plum. Tobacco and cinnamon. High acidity and firm tannins. I can reflect on this wine for indeterminate periods of time.

I have never had a bad bottling from this producer and while these can age seemingly forever, the Bosconia Reserva is a good one to look in on young.

Posted from CellarTracker

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agreed. i had this last year and it was a 91 pt wine for me. i thought it was in a beautiful drinking window.

3

I was wondering about this one. Seems like much of Southern Europe had a crappy vintage that year but Spain is quite removed from Rhone and Piedmont. Is this L&R saying this should be for earlier drinking?

4

They would probably never say any of them are for early drinking except maybe the Crianza. I remember a recent post by someone who visited them while vacationing in Spain and they told him the wines from the 70’s were starting to come around. These are awfully similar to Barolo and Barbaresco. It seems like they can always age longer, but the Bosconia Reserva seems to yield the most in youth compared to the Tondonia bottlings which can take a full day decant before opening up.

If you don’t mind some tightness and tannin at first, it is really beautiful to taste these evolving in the glass.

5

That’s what I was getting at, Anthony. Clearly this house likes to age it’s wines. But don’t they normally wait a longer time with the upper end Tondonia’s and Bosconia’s? Or am I mistaken?

6

You are thinking of the Gran Reservas of which the current release is the 1991 vintage. The Reservas are released much younger.

7

Keith beat me to it.

8

Thanks guys. I just didn’t expect such a long lead between the Gran and the regular Reservas.

9

Thanks for the note, Anthony.

I’m a LdH fan but it is relatively new to me. I understand LdH releases wines more or less when they decide they are ready to drink. However, I am unclear on how long they are typically expected to develop and “hang on” after release before they start to decline.

I opened an '81 Bosconia GR last winter that was wonderful Day 1 but lost much of its aromatics Day 2. I take to mean it certainly is not going to develop further and might start to decline in a another year or so.

Somebody with longer term experience with these reservas and gran reservas have any idea?