R. Lopez de Heredia is a name that is inescapable when it comes to talking about the Spanish wines of Rioja. It is not only domineering in quality, unique in character, but is incredibly historic as well, only more recently catching the fancy of the wine community en masse, pole vaulting it's wines to cult status. It's a long time coming, considering it's been a hot favourite with wine insiders and sommeliers alike.

It doesn't have a catchy name, but it does have a rather recognisable aesthetic to its bottle labels - but really, who is R. Lopez de Heredia, and why is it so iconic?

One Man's Bug, Is Another Man's El Dorado

For a start, let's go back to 1870's France, it wasn't long after the landmark 1855 Bordeaux Classification was conducted that some of the world's most esteemed vineyards of the time in France would face its most damning crisis in modern history - Phylloxera.

A map showing the vast areas of France's vineyards damaged by phylloxera.

For those unfamiliar, Phylloxera is a tiny aphid-like insect that loved grape vines and devoured it ceaselessly. As Phylloxera took over the vineyards of Bordeaux (and really much of Europe), decimating vines all around, it was clear that it would take alot of time before any wines could be produced. And yet in the meantime, it wasn't as if the world had lost its love for French wines.

And thus French winemakers and negociants began in search of any remaining parcels of unaffected vines. The search eventually took them to Rioja, in the north of Spain. Following along these French negociants was one Rafael Lopez de Heredia y Landeta (and that's where the name came from!), who had thus found probably what was the wine world's equivalent of El Dorado - parcels of vines that were yet pristine and untouched by the destructive bug.

Don Rafael would prove to possess formidable foresight.

Don Rafael, as he would come to be known, had thus established his wine-making practice in Haro, the capital of the Rioja Alta region, in 1877. He had found that the soil and climate in the area was highly conducive for growing vines and thus began designing what is today the Lopez de Heredia Bodega. Today it is the oldest in Haro, and amongst the first three bodegas in Rioja - a beloved source of Spanish wines today. Bodegas Lopez de Heredia is in fact one of the few family-run bodegas that is recognised by the Spanish DOC appellation, as well as being the only bodega awarded the Diploma de Garantia accreditation from the Rioja wine regulators for its sole use of only native grapes since its founding.

In the coming decades, Don Rafael would acquire his first vineyard in 1913 - the 100 hectare Vina Tondonia, along the left bank of the Ebro River. There he would farm traditional red Rioja varieties, from Tempranillo to Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo. This move by Don Rafael proved to be a profitable one as many negociants from France would come to rely on R. Lopez de Heredia's fruit, which they vinified back in Bordeaux so as to be able to continue supplying the world with wines from France. The bodegas would go on to acquire several other vineyards, including the Vina Bosconia, Vina Cubillo and the Vina Zaconia (labelled under Vina Gravonia), adding to its vineyard holdings along the Ebro River with a combined 170 hectares of vines.

Into The Bodega With R. Lopez

The R. Lopez vineyards are predominantly of Tempranillo vines (which accounts of 57% of all of Rioja's vines), which is what gives its red wines a heavier and thicker texture, however, with the addition of Garnacha (or Grenache; 10-15% of vines), Mazuelo and Graciano, these other varieties give the reds an overall sparkling colour, greater freshness and more energy. The whites are focused on the Malvasia varietals and are grown in the Tondonia vineyards, with another varietal, Viura, grown predominantly on the Vina Zaconia vineyards, which was identified as being conducive for botrytis, creating a noble rot effect similar to that of France's Sauternes.

Beyond the extensive vineyards holdings, the bodega also has a sizeable cave 10 meters below ground level, where the wines are to be aged in old American oak barrels. In the early years leading up to the 1950's, the Lopez de Heredia family had struggled financially once French vineyards had by then overcome the Phylloxera plight, yet with a firm commitment to the family's winemaking philosophy of extended ageing of its wines until it is rounded and mature, the bodega would at any one time hold as much as 20 vintages in its cellars as a result of their long stay in the family's caves. It wasn't until the past two decades that the family's fourth-generation of winemakers, the siblings Maria Jose, Mercedes and Julio Cesar, had begun to see demand soar and as a result have had to reduce allocations of its vintages.

Defining A Rioja Style

Under the pioneering R. Lopez de Heredia - as has been the philosophy for the next 140-plus years across four generations of the family's winemakers - the philosophy towards its wine-making has been to start with the fields, where the laborious harvesting season is done only by hand. After which, the fruit is basket-pressed and then vinified in large century-old wooden vats only with native yeasts undergo no temperature control.

As has been emphasised, both the reds and whites, undergo a much longer ageing period than is usual, of up to 10 years even, in large old American barrels (also the only bodegas even has its own cooperage so as to make sure barrels are made to specification) which are by then neutralised and thus allows the wines to express itself with purity.

Incredibly long ageing of its wines is a hallmark of R. Lopez de Heredia's Rioja wines.

It is this extended ageing, which is particularly unusual for the whites, that creates the bodegas' signature style of producing deeper flavours, lighter wines (with a lower proof) with a subtle rancio quality, with the acidity and tannins being more pronounced - this is typically characterised as giving notes of tea and cigars. It is said that because of the long ageing the wines undergo, it then immunises the wines from oxidation which allows them to sport long ageing abilities. As a result of this long ageing practice, over half of the bodega's wine labels are of Gran Reserva status. Once ready, the wines are clarified with egg whites and bottled without filtration. 

Currently the bodegas exports nearly half of its entire production, where just two decades prior, 90% of its wines were domestically consumed. Today, R. Lopez de Heredia's Gran Reserva Rosado has become a cult wine, with the bodega highly regarded by the wine community at large.

And so in lieu of that, the Vina Cubillo remains an accessible entry level offering from the bodega that is easy enough to find and just as wallet friendly.

And so with all that said, let's try the Vina Cubillo - this is 65% Tempranillo, 25% Garnacho (or Grenache), with the rest being Mazuelo and Graciano - all of which comes solely from R. Lopez de Heredia's Vina Cubillo vineyard. It's been aged for 3 years, with a rather elevated acidity and very little residual sugar, as is the house style.

Let's give it a taste!

2015 R. Lopez de Heredia Viña Cubillo Rioja - Review

Tasting Notes

Colour: Super Dark Ruby

Aroma: Dense, dark and heavy. It's filled with raisins, blackberry jams, incredibly rich and yet not overly sweet, with blackberry, blueberry and raspberry concentrate, with a slight tendency towards the darker berries. Also some earthiness from rich soils and tobacco. With time, more blackcurrants show up as does the firm tightening dryness of tannins.

Taste: Medium-bodied with a good freshness, it feels comparatively less heavy than it was on the nose. Here it's even alittle tart with some acidity coming through, and again the grainy tannins are fairly prominent. More on blackcurrants, blackcurrant pomace, some tobacco leaves and oversteeped black tea. It leans more dry, with a good bit of rancio too. With time the blackcurrants dominate.

Finish: The dryness persists, as does the tannins - which doesn't intensify but stays consistently grainy - some more rancio, along with a light spiced quality of cloves. More on blackcurrant cordials, browned leaves and with time, develops into tobacco. It's a long finish here.

My Thoughts

This was an incredibly big and bold wine with some heavy hitters especially on the nose where it came off super rich, and almost decadent, not too dissimilar to Port wine. It had great depth and intensity, and felt very evocative with heaps of fruit concentrates.

Getting on to the palate - this is where hints of its dryness on the nose were reaffirmed. You really start to get a sense of the signature R. Lopez house style - whilst those big dark berry flavours persisted, the tannins on this were also very prominent and grainy, which gave it this smack of tannic quality that I'd associate with spent grape skins. Whilst it wasn't bitter, it does give rise to loads of acidity and creates this rather intense drying effect that when combined with the big fruit and earthy notes, almost seems to part the oceans of the palate. It pulls you in two opposing directions with quite a vast distance that is made more prominent by the more subdued richness. In that sense, the tannic qualities here are strong and there's not much richness and hence might be alittle less giving and approachable as one might expect enjoying it standalone.

To be certain, the tannins here remain incredibly consistent and persist all the way into the finish without any intensifying effect, but rather plays a big role in defining the wine's profile. I really enjoyed the more earthy aspects of the wine, along with the big blackcurrant notes that were rendered beautifully, powerfully and with much depth. It's bold and dry.

Nevertheless, as it leans more dry and hence it does its best work when paired with tapas, fishes or more heavy and richer foods. To that end, this does a splendid job, finding its place in Spanish cuisine - it's the perfect wine accompaniment that keeps you going with its freshness and lifted acidity, along with these darker flavours, and never seems to heavy you down. You'll derive the best experience with this wine as a food pairing than you would standalone.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot