TN: 2009 R. Lopez Heredia Rose - Vina Tondonia

[Rich_Brown]

Just picked up six bottles of the newly released '09…for $24.99 each…at Binny’s, of course.

I’ll just say that I REALLY wish I could have gotten mine for anywhere close to $25. Nice score!!

[EHeffner]

Local place has these listed $134.99 on website but when they put them in cooler, the sticker price was $89.99 as a “discount” for local buyers. Pulled the trigger on one because YOLO. Still have 19 bottles or so.

[S_teve_R_edenbaugh]

Rich, it was a lucky score…and I really agree with your assessment of the wine. Frankly, I’ve been “rosed” out lately, but this is certainly something completely different. Cheers!

[Tom_K]

Rich, it was a lucky score…and I really agree with your assessment of the wine. Frankly, I’ve been “rosed” out lately, but this is certainly something completely different. Cheers!

Rose overload is for sure here…love it but it’s ubiquitous on the general level at this point!

[joeduncan]

Rich, it was a lucky score…and I really agree with your assessment of the wine. Frankly, I’ve been “rosed” out lately, but this is certainly something completely different. Cheers!

I think I tried to buy these from binny’s online only to find they don’t ship outside IL.

[Dale_McClaran]

Wow. This is a crazy wine, and wildly different than any rose that I’ve ever had before (in a good way). In fact, if I tasted this blind and blindfolded so that I couldn’t see the color, I don’t know what I’d be guessing, but probably not rose. Speaking of color, this has to be one of the prettiest looking wines I’ve ever seen. Kinda like a bright/fluorescent orangish, reddish, salmon with a tinge of peach. Picture melting together an Orange, Red, yellow, and peach Jolly Rancher. On the nose, this is nice, but not overly expressive, and certainly not the strongest feature of the wine. More earthy type notes with some slight strawberry, and a tiny hint of oxidation. In the mouth, unlike their blancs (and the nose), there is really no oxidation at all. It’s incredibly fresh (especially given it’s a 10 year old rose) and literally bursting with flavors. Really hard to pin down as there’s a LOT going on, but I’m getting strawberries, freshly picked raspberries, earth, damp leaves and leather, which are all blending together seamlessly with a generous amount of acidity creating a unique and incredibly satisfying mix of bright fruit and savory notes, which all end with a very long and mineral driven finish that lasts upwards of 45 seconds. Refreshing and contemplative at the same time. A very serious wine, and a monumental effort. The hype is real.


[media] Rich Brown on Instagram: "2009 R. Lopez Heredia Rose - Vina Tondonia Wow.  This is a crazy wine, and wildly different than any rose that I’ve ever had before (in a good way). In fact, if I tasted this blind and blindfolded so that I couldn’t see the color, I don’t know what I’d be guessing, but probably not rose.  Speaking of color, this has to be one of the prettiest looking wines I’ve ever seen.  Kinda like a bright/fluorescent orangish, reddish, salmon with a tinge of peach.  Picture melting together an Orange, Red, yellow, and peach Jolly Rancher.  On the nose, this is nice, but not overly expressive, and certainly not the strongest feature of the wine.  More earthy type notes with some slight strawberry, and a tiny hint of oxidation.  In the mouth, unlike their blancs (and the nose), there is really no oxidation at all.  It’s incredibly fresh (especially given it’s a 10 year old rose) and literally bursting with flavors.  Really hard to pin down as there’s a LOT going on, but I’m getting strawberries, freshly picked raspberries, earth, damp leaves and leather, which are all mixing together seamlessly with a generous amount of acidity creating a unique and incredibly satisfying mix of bright fruit and savory notes, which all end with a very long and mineral driven finish that lasts upwards of 45 seconds.  Refreshing and contemplative at the same time.  A very serious wine, and a monumental effort.  The hype is real." [/media]

I keep meaning to post on your thread Rich, but I keep spacing it. Anyway, this too (the 09) was my first RLH Rosado, and your note and experience was almost identical to mine. Worth $200? No way, BUT it was a hell of an journey and I would pull the trigger without hesitation at $60 or below.

[Rich_Brown]

Good stuff Dale! And totally agree - if I found the wine for $60 or under, I would buy every bottle they had without thinking twice. Such a crazy unique wine!

[Claus_Jeppesen]

Cmon. It is a Rosado GRAN Reserva
Worth every penny
2000, 2008, 2009

[EHeffner]

Say you had a single bottle of 2009, would you drink it sooner rather than later? I usually like my roses and whites within a year or two of vintage date. Obviously this wine is a different animal. I’m not trying to let it sit for a decade, but not sure if it would greatly benefit from a year or two, or might as well try it now for the freshness as that’s how I mainly enjoy other roses?! The struggle of having a single bottle lol

[Jason_T]

Dangit, 2009 not available yet in the UK.

[lleichtman]

Just picked up six bottles of the newly released '09…for $24.99 each…at Binny’s, of course.

Now out of stock.

[lleichtman]

I would have bought a case at the 24.99 price. Now seem to be out of luck. Can’t find any less than $145 and that’s on Winebid.

[M_Mager]

Say you had a single bottle of 2009, would you drink it sooner rather than later? I usually like my roses and whites within a year or two of vintage date. Obviously this wine is a different animal. I’m not trying to let it sit for a decade, but not sure if it would greatly benefit from a year or two, or might as well try it now for the freshness as that’s how I mainly enjoy other roses?! The struggle of having a single bottle lol

Evan,

Just curious - have you ever tasted any previous vintages of this wine? The reason I’m asking is because - although I absolutely love this wine - I’m not sure “freshness” is an aspect that is salient to this particular rose. In the specific context of your question, I don’t think a year or two will significantly change the taste profile of this wine. In fact, in my experience, even a decade doesn’t change it all that much.

Due to the supply challenges over the last few years, I’ve been rationing the last of my supply of older vintages. The last time I dipped into them was in 2015, when I drank one of the 1995s. It was still going strong. Absolutely no evidence that it was on the down slide.

If you’ve never tried one, I’d recommend you go ahead and open it now. These wines are a unique experience. Some love 'em; some hate 'em (very few are “eh” about them). Just my $0.02…

Michael

[EHeffner]

Thank you for the response! I have never had this wine, in any vintage. I figure I’ll drink it before hurricane season is up within the next couple months. Might as well try it while my shop still has a case! Thanks again!

[EHeffner]

Debating opening this soon. Would you recommend saving some for day 2, or better consumed on first day? I guess I could always leave at least half a glass for science but ya, thoughts?

[Jayson_Cohen]

These age well and gain complexity IME like the white GR. Measured in decades.

[Markus_S]

Due to the supply challenges over the last few years…

Why would there be supply constraints? It’s not as if there are only a few cases made (something like 15,000 bottles are produced, so it is not rare)

[M_Mager]

Due to the supply challenges over the last few years…

Why would there be supply constraints? It’s not as if there are only a few cases made (something like 15,000 bottles are produced, so it is not rare)

Well, primarily I was referring to the 8 year gap between the 2000 and 2008 vintages. They didn’t make any rose from 2001 thru 2007 vintages. The last bottle of the 2000 vintage that I was able to scrounge up locally was in 2010, and the 2008 vintage didn’t show up until 2018. That’s a lot of years of nothing. Even then, my primary local retail source wasn’t able to get any – though he can get me pretty much all I want of any of their other wines (though, regrettably, the prices on the most recent library release of the GRs from '80s and earlier have just gotten silly). I’ve only been able to find one retailer locally who is getting an allocation - and their allocation for 2009 vintage was 1 case. Max to customers was 1 bottle each.

They must be going somewhere, but I have no idea where. And, quite frankly, there’s no way I’m going to pay the $100+ that the few online retailers that have these are asking. Just my experience, YMMV. If you have a reliable source of supply for these, at a reasonable price, more power to you. Wanna sell me a few bottles?

[Gobindjit_S_Dhaliwal]

They implemented a quota system a year or two ago, something like you need to buy x amount of Tondonia Reserva to get 1 bottle of Gran Reserva, or Rose, or even white. Maria Jose told me a while back it was something like (don’t recall exact numbers) 48 botttles of Tondonia reserva got you 12 bottles of Tondonia Reserva Blanco.

[Hank_Victor]

They implemented a quota system a year or two ago, something like you need to buy x amount of Tondonia Reserva to get 1 bottle of Gran Reserva, or Rose, or even white. Maria Jose told me a while back it was something like (don’t recall exact numbers) 48 botttles of Tondonia reserva got you 12 bottles of Tondonia Reserva Blanco.

In my market rose allocations are determined by your support of their gran reserva bottles. (Distributor → On/Off premise)