Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia Tinto Gran Reserva 2004

For more than 130 years the Lopez de Heredia family has been producing exceptional wines and today Maria Jose Lopez de Heredia, the great-granddaughter of the founder continues with this tradition. They're being made now very much the same way they were 130 years ago; only fruit from their own vineyards is used (unusual for the region), natural yeast, no filtration, followed by very long and gentle ageing in large, old American oak. The wines have remained unaffected by fashion and trends over centuries and the wines are incredibly elegant and precise. This is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. 2001 was a fantastic vintage in Rioja and this is an amazing treat of a wine.