2008 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja (11/29/2022)
From half bottle, and consumed over two nights, this struck me as intensely oaky and full of dill on night one. The second night it had calmed down a bit, but the oak influence still dominated. There seemed to be a lot of material in there some where, but it was behind a locked oak door.
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Thnx for the note. I nominated the LdH Riservas in the 24 hour decant thread. I have found they improve with a couple of days on being left open in the bottle. But yes I suspect they need a lot more time to integrate.
Brodie
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Haven’t had the 2008 yet (2007 is the youngest Tondonsky I’ve had), but this sounds really weird. I’ve had tons of Heredias (clocking in at +100 in CT at the moment), yet I’ve never had wines with any obvious oak influence (where would they even get it? they renew only a couple of % barrels annually and I’ve understood they season the barrels before they’re put to use) and very occasionally any dill. What I love in LdH wines is that they’re basically the only Rioja I can think of where I do not need to fear that the wine would show any oak, as I’m quite averse to any obvious new oak aromatics.
Does the wine seem different from any older vintages? Because your description of the wine sounds really worrisome to me.
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I concur. I have had boat loads of this wine (including this vintage) and never encountered the aspects noted in the OP. I have 750s and magnums that have shown very well. They DO require a longer decant, but are lovely when they open up.
I was totally shocked when I initially tasted it. Never noted anything so extreme with young LdH Reserva. Then later I recalled I think it was Dennis Atick who had a 2010 LdH that he said was overpoweringly oaky.
I have a bunch of 1/2 bottles, so will probably check in again sooner than I should. If it’s better (or worse…or the same) I will report back.
Was thinking that your note sounds exactly like the '10 that I opened last week. I also got the heady dose of dill along with the oak. It was almost undrinkable to me. Never encountered oak (or sense of oak presence that was problematic) to this degree in ‘young’ Tondonia before. Won’t touch another bottle for a while.
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I thought there was some oak in my bottle, 1st of a 6-pack purchase, that I drank with golf buddies in 2020. But it was mostly intensely tannic and very tight. I swore not to get anywhere near my remaining bottles for a long time.
I was referring to the 2008 Lopez Heredia Tondonia Reserva.
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And the '10 Bosconia isn’t that way.
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Can confirm that the 2010 Tondonia was overly oaky when tasted recently. However, the 2008 I had a few months prior to that was great and not noticeably oaky.
The 2010 Bosconia was not oaky at all and is drinking great right now.
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I opened a 750 of the 2010 Tondonia in September of this year and it was extremely closed for me (even after a double decant and several hours).
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I’ve had 2008 Tondonia Reserva 3 or 4 times out of 750 since release, and none showed oaky. I give them plenty of time to air, and no problem drinking over a couple days. Was just chatting with @Keith_Levenberg about this wine, as he posted a photo of it on an Instagram a couple day ago, and we both think it’s the best recent Tondonia Reserva.
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Since I still have 11 375ml bottles, perhaps I will try another one in several weeks. Seems like my experience with this particular wine was an outlier, but never hurts to re-try an experiment!
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Following this one. I had no intention of trying any of mine until at least 2028 anyway but this is a good reference point and as others have said concerning. Thanks.
I have some of these 375’s of the 2008 myself. Maybe Ill hazard a try soon. Will report back here.
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