López de Heredia - Viña Cubillo Rioja Crianza 2017

López de Heredia is a storied Rioja property founded in 1877. It is one of the most respected and traditional producers in the Rioja region today. As always, López de Heredia only uses grapes grown in the region.

López de Heredia is known for its reds as well as its whites. These wines often are aged in oak as long as the reds. The long exposure to the oak results in wines that have marked oaky taste. However, a few years in the bottle smooths out these flavours, resulting in wines with polish and a seductive bouquet of spice, bitter almonds, vanilla, and walnut.

López de Heredia cultivates its own vineyards. Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta founded Viña Tondonia in the years 1913-14. Tondonia was to become the bodega´s most famous vineyard and product. Viña Tondonia is a beautiful vineyard of over 100 hectares, situated on the right bank of the river Ebro, where the most typical Rioja wines are grown. The best wines are made from grapes from this vineyard.

Apart from Tondonia, López de Heredia owns three more vineyards also set in the Rioja Alta region. These are the Viña Cubillo, Viña Bosconia and Viña Zaconia. These vineyards are planted to ensure that maximum quality starts in the vines themselves, forming the basis of the reputation of their wines.

In general, Viña Bosconia wines are elegant but full-bodied; have a deep colour and good structure, and are wines with great complexity and expression.

Viña Cubillo wines come from the vineyard called Viña Cubillas, some 4 km away from the bodega. Historically these wines were called “Special Harvest”. Vina Cubillas has an altitude of 410 m, and the vines have an average age of 40 years.

Viña Gravonia wines come from the Viña Zaconia vineyard, named after a local term for the area. Historically these wines were called Viña Zaconia, except when the founder made sweet white wines using “noble rot” (botrytis cinerea)–which he called Sauternia after the French Sauternes.