For years in Ireland, Rioja became associated with supermarket shelves, heavy oak, and commercial styles. But when you arrive in Haro, the historic heart of Rioja, you discover something completely different happening beneath the surface. Rioja is splitting into two identities.
One path is modern and future-facing, focused on villages, freshness, terroir, and new expressions of Tempranillo. The other is heritage. And nowhere captures that more powerfully than Lopez de Heredia and Vina Tondonia.
A Once-in-a-Generation Visit to the Vina Tondonia Cellars
This week, we were incredibly lucky to be invited into their original 150-year-old underground cellars. These tunnels are not open to the public. They are old, fragile, and being preserved exactly as they were generations ago.
Photography inside is not permitted. The interior images shared here are publicly available from a 2023 visit by James Suckling, as visitors are asked not to post photographs from inside the historic cellar itself.
Stepping underground felt less like entering a winery and more like entering a time capsule.
How Vina Tondonia Wines Are Still Made the Old Way
Everything at López de Heredia is still done almost exactly as it was 150 years ago. The barrels are handmade. The wines are racked by hand. The grapes are hand harvested. Fermentation happens with wild natural yeasts.
Even the thick layer of penicillium fungus covering the cellar walls plays a role, acting as a natural antibacterial protection around the ageing wines. Beneath the streets of Haro, 13,000 old American oak barrels rest alongside giant oak vats that have been in use for decades.
What Vina Tondonia Wines Actually Taste Like
The wines themselves are the opposite of what many people expect Rioja to be. They are not loud. They are not dominated by oak. They are not trying to overwhelm you. They are savoury, delicate, evolved, and incredibly elegant.
- Viña Cubillo 2018: Spicy and silky with bright red fruit.
- Viña Bosconia 2015: Darker, more structured, and muscular.
- Viña Tondonia 2014: Pure old-school Rioja. Savoury, layered, graceful, and quietly powerful.
Why Vina Tondonia Matters in a World of Fast Wine
In a world where so much wine is about speed, scale, and consistency, López de Heredia are doing something almost rebellious. They are protecting time itself.
Vina Tondonia is not just a wine. It is an argument that patience, tradition, and restraint can produce something more compelling than anything optimised for instant gratification.
If you ever get the chance to taste through their range, take it. You will not find anything else quite like it.
1 comment
Looking forward to trying