This inviting bottle of 20 year old Vina Gravonia Rioja Blanco had been pulled from my cellar and had been sitting in my fridge for several months waiting for the right moment (and the right company) to enjoy it. With a fellow wine trade colleague joining me for dinner, this seductively complex white served as a perfect aperitif, simply too delicious to drink too quickly. 

I will always remember Tondonia owner Maria-Jose Lopez de Heredia presenting a large Vina Gravonia vertical back to 2001 that I organised. Her excitement was palpable… which to be honest, I found a little strange, as surely she got to taste these and much older and grander white bottlings at the winery in Haro all the time. Then she explained that they did not keep back vintage Vina Gravonia stocks in their archive cellar. It would all be released and once it was sold out, that was it. Very few collectors or merchants ever kept back older Vina Gravonia bottles, preferring instead to age the Reservas or Gran Reserva Blancos for many years. So tasting old white Vina Gravonia whites was always a special occasion for her.

Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Rioja Blanco Vina Gravonia Crianza 2006, 12.5% Abv.

This 20 year old white, originally aged for 4 years in American oak barrels, displays a fabulous bronzed brilliant yellow golden colour, shining with a complex aromatics of waxy orange peel, bruised apples, honeysuckle, bees wax and enticing honeycomb, vanilla pod and chamomile nuances. While there is a thread of tertiary complexity on the nose, the palate is far more dialled in and pure, showing taut yellow citrus fruits, candied ginger, salted caramel, baked apples and honied peaches all underpinned by fresh precise acids and a dry nuttiness. Obviously, the Tondonia whites are made in an oxidative style, but you can’t help feeling that this wine has hardly evolved since it was bottled. These traditional oxidative styles of Rioja Blanco are perhaps not your average consumers’ forte, but like oysters and caviar, once you have acquired a taste for these wines, there is simply no looking back. One of the most individual, complex and enticing white wines on the market. Drink now and over the next 15 to 20+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)