López de Heredia Rioja Viña Tondonia Reserva 2012

96 points Zekun Shuai (JamesSuckling.com): "Savory berries, plums, iron, minerals, tobacco, ink and blood oranges. Very bright, juicy and structured, with sensational balance, aged savoriness and brightness that are typical of Tondonia reds. Beautiful now. (8/5/24)"

95 points Luis Gutiérrez (Wine Advocate): "[$65 list] The 2012 Viña Tondonia Reserva comes from a very dry year, with 25% less rain than the average (at the time), resulting in lower yields of very healthy grapes that delivered wines with nice balance between alcohol and polyphenols, making it very apt for the aging in barrel. It had a slightly longer élevage in barrel, six years. The wine is aromatic with a developed profile, spicy and tertiary (forest floor, a touch of brick dust and iodine), complex and nuanced. The palate is full and round, with polished tannins and a long, dry finish. It has a textbook Tondonia nose and profile. Drink: 2025-2035. (2/29/24)"

95 points Tim Atkin, MW: "(13%) Viña Tondonia can seem austere in its (comparative) youth, especially when compared with sweeter Bosconia, but this is a wine that will reward patience. Picked earlier to assuage the effect of a warmer site, this blend of Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 5% each of Graciano and Mazuelo is structured and focused, with redcurrant, forest floor and green herb notes. Give it time. 2025-32. (2024)"

95 points Joaquín Hidalgo (Vinous): "The 2012 Viña Tondonia is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, cultivated on the meander of the Ebro River in Rioja Alta. This garnet wine reveals aromas of ash and plum marmalade, with a faintly herbal core and hints of oaky cedar. Dry and lean, the fairly chalky texture lingers long, concluding with a compact, flavorful and lasting finish. The 2012 is a beautiful old-school Rioja. Drink: 2024-2035. (Apr 2024)"

94 points Ines Salpico (Decanter): "All you can expect from a classical Viña Tondonia with its focused intensity and muscular yet very elegant tannins. At once assertive and silky, with juicy red and blue fruit gliding through the palate while being pleasantly pulled back by an energetic, iodine verve. Subtle, hovering, brooding notes of tobacco, mocha and wet forest floor. 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 10% Graciano and Mazuelo, bottled in January 2022 having matured in 225-litre American oak barrels for six years. Drinking Window: 2025-2040. (12/30/24)"

94 points Peñín Guide to Spanish Wine: "Color: light cherry, brick rim edge. Aroma: fruit preserve, tobacco, sweet spices, scrubland, meaty notes, metalic. Flavour: spicy, round tannins, flavourful, fresh. (Jul 2024)"

93+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "The 2012 “Viña Tondonia” Reserva from López de Heredia has just been released. The wine is crafted this year from the same cépages as was the case with the lovely 2011 version, which I reported on in the last issue: seventy percent tempranillo, twenty percent garnacha and ten percent from a mix of mazuelo and graciano. The wine spent six years in older American oak barrels of two hundred-twenty-five liter capacity prior to bottling. The wine is nicely classic in its octane in this vintage, coming in at an even thirteen percent and offering up a complex bouquet of red and black raspberries, spiced meats, cigar wrapper, salty soil tones, clove-like Rioja spices, woodsmoke and a bit of spicy oak. On the palate the wine is vibrant, full-bodied, focused and still quite youthful at twelve years of age, with a lovely core of fruit, excellent soil signature and grip, ripe, well-integrated tannins and a long, well balanced and complex finish. This is certainly approachable, but my inclination would be to bury it away in the cellar for another five to ten years, let its tannins properly fall away and really enjoy the fireworks! 2024-2075. (Mar/Apr 2024)"