So I have 73, 81, 87, 91, 94, and 95 lined for a little dinner I’m doing with friends up here in Bozeman, MT next week. (Let me know if you are in the area or want to fly up! )
I’ve had the magical 1964 on several occasions and the '81 once, but this will be first '73…
Anyone want to offer thoughts on decanting time and order you would serve these wines?
Do they need air? Why? I’ve had a good number of white Heredias going back to early 1970’s and they all (Gravonia, Tondonia R, Tondonia GR) have been singing from the start. The only exception has been young GRs which have needed some aeration to flesh themselves out, but we’re talking about less than an hour, not moee than a day. The wines have never felt reductive, closed or showing any bottle funk, so I wonder what extended aeration would bring - I would be more worried what delicate qualities might get blown off from the older bottles.
Conversely, I’ve noticed that some Tondonias don’t seem to benefit that much from air, coming across pretty lovely upon opening, but slowly developing a subtly metallic taste after an hour or two. Nothing that would ruin the wine, but a minor distraction all the same.
This was not my opinion and I am not experienced enough to have an opinion on this matter. The comment was made along the lines that decanting or following the wine for more time would have resulted in more complexity.
I just did a quick google search and did find this by John Gilman: John Gilman On Serving Wine
“The poster child for the need of decanting white Rioja are the beautiful white wines made by López de Heredia, which are tasty if poured out of bottle, but which so dramatically blossom and show additional layers of complexity with extended aeration that it is, in my experience, absolutely foolhardy to not decant López de Heredia Rioja Blanco, almost regardless of the age. For example, the last bottle of the stellar 1964 López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Blanco that I drank benefited dramatically from a solid hour in decanter prior to serving!”
I’ve had the 81 twice, and both times they needed an hour or so of airtime to loosen up aromatically. Not so with the 91, which was ready to go on first pour.
One thing I’ll note is that I don’t really like these wines when served cold. Fridge temp is way too cold. Somewhere a little higher than cellar temp is good. Treat them like a red wine essentially. I can’t help but wonder if the positive effects of decanting are being mis-attributed and are simply due to the temperature rising. Having said that I do find improvment with air in young LdH whites even when temp is held constant.
I’ve had the 04, 08 and 09 and all three were stellar. I could just imagine what these would actually be like. I can’t wait to read some TN’s on this tasting.