Many people have observed that today’s major wine critics seem to award their highest scores to wines of a certain profile. If a wine gets, say, 95 points or more on a 100-point scale, it seems like certain words tend to pop up in the tasting note: “massive”, “concentrated”, “powerful”, “hedonistic”, and “opulent” leap to mind, usually embellished with exclamations about “gobs and gobs of fruit” or “a finish that goes on and on for over 60 seconds!”

I like big wines as much as the next guy, but the wines that really scramble my brain are the ones that don’t have to knock you backwards with power to impress you – they’re the ones with a sense of dynamics, subtlety, complexity – wines with more than one gear. The ones where you judge it with your palate and not a stopwatch – based on the quality and beauty of the flavors, not on how many seconds that the overextracted fruit flavors register for in your mouth.  Let’s take wine appreciation away from the realm of competitive sport, shall we?

I recently came across a wine that could be the poster child for my argument. I hesitated to write about this wine, because I recently did an episode on this blog about a wine from the same producer. But some wines just demand attention, and at a recent Polaner tasting in New York, this wine stood head and shoulders above not only the many fine wines poured that day, but also above almost every other wine I’ve ever tasted.

The wine I’m talking about: the 1991 R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva, a classic rioja rendered as flawlessly as I’ve ever had the pleasure to taste. Right out of the gate, the nose has so much going on – an airy openness, an oxidative note, a hint of a savory element, spice, leather, tobacco – all anchored by a pleasing sweetness to the fruit that is not powerful, but incredibly impactful.   The nose is just thrilling and sets up so much anticipation for tasting the wine, which is just what the nose of a wine should do in my book.

The palate, thankfully, lives up to the pleasure given off by the bouquet of the wine. The drinker is treated to the very picture of balance and harmony – beautiful acidity, pleasing sweet fruit, exotic spice for complexity, notions of dried herbs and flowers. All of these elements meld seamlessly like a well-conducted orchestra – this is just a thrilling, thrilling wine, performing at its peak. The wine doesn’t knock you over with its power, but instead insinuates itself throughout your mouth, charming you with its beauty, then continues to tell its evolving story right through to the finish.  I haven’t found many critics’ ratings for this actual wine (the Tondonia gran reserva is only released periodically, in exceptional years), but reaching for the same era, Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate gave the 1987 Tondonia Gran Reserva 90 points (all other vintages listed on the WA site ranged from 90 to 92 points), describing it as “light, feeble-looking” in color, “medium-bodied and gentle” and “an acquired taste.” Of course Mr. Parker is one of the preeminent wine critics out there, but in my opinion this completely misses the point about Lopez de Heredia’s style – the light touch, the gentleness, the uniqueness of the flavors expressing the wine’s one-of-a-kind terroir through subtle beauty and harmony are exactly the kinds of elements that should define a truly exceptional wine – unless the critic believes that only intensity and power are the traits deserving of a stratospheric score? Kind of makes you wonder. To be fair to the critics though, Eric Asimov (who I took to task for his take on some blaufrankisches in this post from Feb 9) has written indispensable pieces about the virtues of Lopez de Heredia wines here and here, for which I will give him credit.

The Wine Advocate’s lukewarm reception of Tondonia Gran Reservas aside (90-92 points are good scores, but they also hand out 90-92 points to completely nondistinctive oak bombs from Spain with regularity), trust me on this one – the 1991 Tondonia GR is one of the most truly memorable wines I have ever had, out of a few thousand that I’ve had the pleasure to taste. If the critics won’t give this a super-high score, then I will. 96-100 points for this wine (I don’t believe in giving a straight 100 points, because it implies that the score is a precise and immutable characteristic of the wine- which it is not. In my experience, once you get above a certain level, whether a wine feels like it deserves 94 points or 97 or 100 is purely a personal thing.) Fans of Lopez de Heredia will recognize all of the elements here, but as much of a fan as I’ve been over the years, this rendition of the house style surpasses all others I’ve had, which includes the 1976 Bosconia Gran Reserva, and various bottlings from the 1950′s, 60′s, 70′s and 80′s. At $80+, it’s an expensive wine for sure, but whether you’re a Lopez de Heredia fan, or someone who wants to know what their wines are all about, this one is not to be missed.

1991 R. Lopez de Heredia Gran Reserva  Find this wine

Corrections/errata: when this post was first posted, I mistakenly identified the critic of the review from the Wine Advocate as Antonio Galloni (who had written a different review of the wine that was also listed on the Wine Advocate website), which I later corrected to Robert Parker when I became aware of the mistake. My apologies to Antonio Galloni, and my thanks to him for making me aware of the mistake.

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