Producer Profile: López de Heredia, Rioja, Spain
Rioja is a remarkable region, both in terms of topography and the variety of wines on offer. In recent years, modern technology has led the way in producing wines of polish and precision and, some may say, lacking the soul of the region. Then comes López de Heredia.
“I have adored, indeed occasionally worshipped, the wines of Lopez de Heredia for many years…. it has withstood the tide of corporatization and homogeneity, and epitomizes timeless, artisan winemaking”
Neal Martin
If much of modern Rioja has had a makeover, López de Heredia has declined, politely, and carried on regardless. Founded in Haro in 1877, it remains one of the great standard bearers of the old school in Rioja Alta, making wines that have been taught restraint by tradition, not trend.
“The estate produces age-worthy, traditional Riojas of the highest level. These are among my favorite Riojas."
Antonio Galloni
The estate is not chasing fashion, it is rather like it is hanging on to times gone by. A key part of that is the bodega’s own cooperage, still repairing and making barrels, and a long, deliberate upbringing in American oak rather than a quick tour of new barrique. Fermentations in old wooden vats and extended élevage are not marketing lines here, they are simply how the place works. This is why the new releases are from vintages long gone from the cellars of other bodegas: the wines are often left in barrel and cellar for a decade or more before release.
Their quartet of vineyard bottlings has become a sort of Rioja compass: Viña Tondonia for the archetype, Bosconia with a slightly sunnier disposition (the Burgundy style bottle a nod to the fruit profile, it’s the more vibrant of the set, Cubillo as the most approachable entry point, and Gravonia for those who think white Rioja should be taken seriously (which it should). They are perfectly content ageing whites in oak for years, oxidatively but with restraint, which is precisely why the wines taste of somewhere, rather than of a cooperage catalogue.
The result, when you pull a cork, is Rioja with aromatics, yet substance: savoury fruit, dried spice, tobacco leaf, gentle leather, and that peculiar López de Heredia freshness that keeps everything civilised. These are wines for people who prefer conversation to shouting, and who do not mind waiting for a point to be made properly. Ironically, the bodega has also commissioned a striking modern reception space, which only serves to underline the joke: you may arrive in the twenty-first century, but the wines have other plans entirely.
