x
  • Weather

    8° C Scattered clouds
  • Time

    06:59 AM
  • Wine average?

    94 Tb
  • Country Ranking?

    8
  • Region Ranking?

    4
  • Popularity ranking?

    194

History

It all started in the middle of the nineteenth century when French negociants visited the Rioja region to find alternative sources of quality grapes to transform into wine, since the phylloxera epidemic had decimated their vineyards.  Our founder, Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic student in the art of wine making, followed closely in their footsteps.

 

Don Rafael fell in love with the region and especially the area around Haro, the mythical capital of the Rioja Alta region. He observed that there was a magical combination of soil and climate that would offer the perfect environment for producing wine that would eventually become world famous. Around 1877 he began the design and construction of the complex that is today known as the López de Heredia bodega (winery), the oldest in Haro and one of the first three bodegas in the Rioja region.

 

For over a century our emotions have been rooted in our love and passion for this land and its harvest. We cherish our heritage, and this combination of love and the rigorous quality standards we apply, have become our trademarks and remain our maxim for today and the future.

Bodegas López de Heredia stands out as one of the few family-run bodegas regulated by the Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja – DOC (Appellation region).

Close

Vineyards

To consistently produce high quality wines it is necessary to own vineyards, where constant care can ensure a consistent quality of grapes – something which cannot be guaranteed when buying from other growers.

For this reason, 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. 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 our wines.

 

The Tondonia vineyard has to be is the most spectacular in Haro. Situated in a shell-like depression next to the River Ebro which serves as a border with Rioja Alavesa (the part of the Rioja appellation region belonging to the Basque Country), it is characterised by poplar trees.  The soil is alluvial clay with a high proportion of limestone. The vineyards, cared for with enthusiasm and love, cover a total area of 170 hectares and produce an average annual yield of some 800,000 kg of grapes.  Grapes from Viña Tondonia are always used in making our highest quality wines, and naturally, with truly exceptional vintages, becoming "Gran Reservas" if the vintage is truly exceptional - as was the case in 1976, 1973, 1970, 1968, 1964, 1961 and 1954.  The first "Reserva" was bottled by the founder as long ago as 1890. A few bottles of this are still kept in the family wine museum.

Close

Winemaking

The tender care and hard work we put into our vineyards bear fruit – literally – in the October harvest. Photographs taken in 1900 show that virtually nothing has changed; there is the same hustle and bustle of trailers laden with baskets full of grapes, the same enthusiasm to work. Whole families of harvesters come from Portugal as well as Spain, returning year after year, and we have started building a house on the edge of the Tondonia vineyard where they will stay during the harvest.

 

The basis of a fine wine is harvesting by hand, bunch by bunch, which no machines could duplicate. Cutting by hand, with the curved knife called "corquete", prevents the grape breaking and releasing must that could ferment prematurely. Ensuring that the grape skin is not broken is aided by the emblematic containers made in the López de Heredia cooperage, which have a capacity of just under a hundred kilos. Thus begins the discourse between grape and wood that goes on for years while the wine is maturing.

The last part of the grape harvest takes place when the containers are emptied into the weighing machine - in hoppers. From there the grapes pass to the destemming machines, which gently break the grapes to extract the must. This must comes into contact at once with the yeasts on the grape’s thin waxy coating.

 

As mentioned earlier, harvest time at López de Heredia is hectic, but organized in such a way that there is no delay in receiving the grapes arriving in the containers via tractor-drawn trailers. It is essential that there is no delay because waiting can produce very prejudicial fermentation in the containers.

This is why there is a harvesting train for red grapes and another for the white.  Red grapes are destemmed before going to the fermentation vats, while white grapes are crushed, thus immediately releasing their must -   it is undesirable that the must should be in contact with skins. 

 

The difference between red and white wines lies in the fact that with red wines fermentation occurs while the liquid is in contact with the skins, which contain the colourant, whereas with white wines the must ferments on its own.  With rosés, the process is mixed: the skins remain in contact with the must during a period of maceration (soaking) so that some of the colour can be absorbed, but are then removed before fermentation begins.

The must is fermented in large oak vats. The biggest, with a capacity of 240 hectolitres, are for red wine, while the smaller vats (60 hectolitre capacity) are for whites. Yeasts are vital to the quality of the wines since they cause fermentation; these micro-organisms are typically found in the soil, and are spread over the grape skins by insects and the wind. The main microflora in La Rioja are Scharomyces, Kloekera apiculata and Tomlaspora rosei.

 

During the biological process of fermentation carbon anhydride is emitted as the sugars are transformed into alcohol.  Although the temperature never exceeds 36ºC, bubbles disturb the surface of the vat as if it were boiling - hence the popular term of "tumultuous fermentation".

During the vinification of the red wines, the solid part of skins and pips (the marc) form a thick floating layer called a cap, which has to be circulated in order to activate the oxygenation of the yeasts. This process of “pumping over” makes the maceration more homogeneous and helps the extraction of colour. The tumultuous fermentation usually lasts about seven days, during which time the must becomes wine. However it maintains a certain percentage of residual sugar which has to be removed in a slower subsequent fermentation.

Before initiating the second fermentation for red wines, the wine is drained from the vat in order to separate solids from liquids.  This second fermentation should take place in Bordeaux-type oak barrels, and can take up to five or six months.  The result is a softer, more perfect wine.

 

Once wines have been through both fermentation processes, and the sediment or lees have been removed, the wine is then ready to be aged in 225 litre Bordeaux size barrels in our underground cellars, in conditions of perfect temperature and absolute tranquillity.  All in all some 14.000 American oak barrels are perfectly ordered in the 6.000 square metres of cellar space.

 

During this period, a very slow process of oxidation (esterification) takes place through the pores of the wood, which play an important part in the development of the wine’s bouquet. This biological process is complemented by periodic rackings (once or twice a year), to remove the sediment that settles in the bottom of the barrels. Our rackings are carried out with rigorous precision, so that the impurities are in contact with clean wine the shortest time possible.  It goes without saying that the barrel is never turned up to stand vertically throughout the racking process.

In other words, anything that might prejudice the good evolution of the wine in question is painstakingly removed, while the elements that contribute to flavour are kept.

Ageing wines should be seen as a pedagogic act; the wine is “educated", and hence should never be rushed through speeded-up improvisations which would destroy the biological process which give it its character.  Wines need to spend a minimum of three years in barrels to begin to manifest their “education”.  Ten years is the maximum barrel ageing permitted in the Rioja Alta region, and anything more than six years is unusual unless the wines are destined to become Gran Reservas.

 

Bottle ageing is a process of reduction which gives a wine that has undergone excellent wine-making and barrel-ageing processes a certain smoothness and an infinite range of aromatic nuances that constitute its bouquet.  Even our most commercial wines spend a minimum of six months ageing in our cellars before being released for sale.

More commercial wines are the result of blending of various vintages to obtain an average age, a process which is carried out at the end of the barrel ageing process. Gran Reserva wines, on the other hand, which have spent many years in bottles, are not blended. The year of their vintage is shown on the Appellation region label.

 

Not all vintages are chosen to be "great wines"; two or three per decade at the most are chosen because of their excellence.  Making these wines takes at least seven years, at the end of which they are clarified with fresh egg whites. They are then immediately bottled directly from the barrel, without any filtering, and closed with a long cork.

The corks are further sealed with wax to prevent any contact with the exterior during their many years in the cellar. It is only in this long rest period that they acquire the category of "Gran Reserva", like perfect gentlemen who have nobly grown old, while still maintaining some of their youthful characteristics.

Close

Inside information

When D. Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta began building the bodega, little did he realise that his masterpiece would one day be acknowledged as an example to the rest of the industry of the most perfect combination of buildings and vineyards. Like many medieval masterpieces, still incomplete, the buildings stand below and above ground - a veritable "Cathedral to wine".  Browsing through the vaulted underground corridors and staircases, you find yourself travelling back in time, and the founder’s touch can still be sensed in the very stones and fabric of the building.

 

Today the estate covers an area of 53,076 square metres including 19,718 square metres of buildings, 3,433, 41 square metres of which are underground cellars up to 200 metres long and descending to an overall depth of 15 metres.  12,900 Bordeaux oak barrels are stored in the heart of a mountain within our cellars.

In addition, the bodega is home to a large family of 72 oak vats from areas such as Cantabria, Bosnia, Allier and America.  Their capacity ranges from 60 hectolitres, the baby, up to the largest which holds some 640 hectolitres. Oak casks play a pivotal role in the fermentation of our wines as we use completely natural and traditional methods of wine making.

 

As with cathedrals in the past, work on building the winery is never-ending.  Every successive member of the family has taken on the task of completing an aspect of the founder's original vision. These plans, combined with a continuing family commitment, have resulted in each generation leaving its mark on the complex.

 

Each part of the cellars, built and added onto over a period of a hundred years, has been given a name. These names, some of which cannot be translated, are evocative of the past and their origin lies in local legends and our old Rioja dialect: "La Bodega Vieja" (The Old Cellar), "La Bodega Nueva" (The New Cellar), "La Bisiesta", "La Dolorosa", "La Bodega de Reservas", "El Caladillo", "El Frontón" (The Pelota Court), "El Cementerio" and "El Calado".  These underground cellars with their rich and golden aroma of old oak leave the visitor with a lasting impression of romance and mystery.

Close

7 different wines with 46 vintages

Incorrect Information
If you found some information that is wrong, let us know
UPGRADE MEMBER PLAN
Upgrade your membership now, it's quick and easy. We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards. Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal. You can cancel your membership at any time.
Thank you for your support!
 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

 

HOW TO USE TASTINGBOOK?

We recommend you to share few minutes for watching the following video instructions of how to use the Tastingbook. This can provide you a comprehensive understanding of all the features you can find from this unique service platform.

This video will help you get started



Taste wines with the Tastingbook


Create Your wine cellar on 'My Wines'



Explore Your tasted wines library



Administrate Your wine world in Your Profile



Type a message ...
Register to Tastingbook
Sign up now, it's quick and easy.
We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards.
Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal, where you can sign up for a free 7-day trial period. You can cancel your membership at any time. We wish you a rewarding journey to the world of Fine Wines.

Free 7 days Member trial

 

Member

 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

  Register