🍷 López de Heredia

López de Heredia (R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia) is a winery in the Barrio de la Estación of Haro, in the Rioja Alta part of the Rioja appellation. According to the house, it was founded in 1877 by Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, who learned from the French wine merchants who came to Rioja in the phylloxera years; Wikidata gives the same year. The house calls itself the oldest bodega in Haro and one of the first three in Rioja.

According to the house, in 1913–1914 the founder planted Viña Tondonia, a vineyard of more than 100 hectares on the right bank of the Ebro, which gave the winery its best-known wine. It also owns the vineyards Viña Cubillo, Viña Bosconia and Viña Zaconia, about 170 hectares in all.

According to the house, the estate covers 53,076 square metres, of which 19,718 are built. Its underground cellar occupies 3,433 square metres, with galleries up to 200 metres long at depths of more than 10 metres, carved into a block of sandstone, and holds 12,900 Bordeaux-style barrels.

The house adds that its vineyards yield an average of about 800,000 kilograms of grapes a year, all used for its own wines, that the founder began planning and building the winery in 1877, and that it describes the building as still unfinished. Cellar visits are for trade professionals by appointment only, and the winery is closed during the harvest.

Rioja is a protected designation of origin (PDO) and Spain's first DOCa. The label shows the ageing: a red Reserva is aged for at least 36 months, at least 12 of them in barrel and 6 in bottle, and a Gran Reserva for at least 60 months, at least 24 in barrel and 24 in bottle. The wine may be bottled only within the zone.

Why it matters to you. Reserva and Gran Reserva guarantee minimum ageing under the rules, while “Viña Tondonia” names the house's own vineyard. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.