A Rioja Legend That Ages Like No Other
- R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia -
Featured Wines
Bt (750ml)
Stock Location: HK
Tasting note
As I wrote earlier this year, the 1982 Léoville Las Cases is one of the least evolved wines of the vintage, and this impeccably conserved ex-château bottle was, if anything, even more youthful still. Retaining a saturated ruby-black hue at age 40, it unwinds in the glass with aromas of cassis and other dark fruits mingled with notions of pencil shavings and loamy soil. On the palate, it's full-bodied, broad-shouldered and muscular, with an ample core of fruit framed by voluminous, powdery tannins. Rich and concentrated, with an expansive, comparatively low-acid profile, it comes into its own with extended aeration—and with food.
Score: 97
William Kelley, The Wine Advocate, December 2022
Bt (750ml)
Stock Location: HK
Born from three plots in Chamery on clay-limestone and sandy-limestone soils, this balanced blend of 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Meunier and 20% Chardonnay prioritizes freshness and tension over exuberance. It reveals vivid nectarine, citrus and brioche aromas leading to a tense, mineral palate of chalky focus and striking precision. Pure, gastronomic and deeply terroir-driven with a long saline finish.
Bt (750ml)
Stock Location: HK
Tasting note
The 2022 À Mi-Chemin is not a wine you should judge by its cover: initially, it seems very ripe, fruity and welcoming on the nose. But then it shows its true colors. This wine is the vinous equivalent of having a bucket of water thrown in your face while you're asleep. The tension and mineral flinty character are real wake-up calls for your palate. Its persistence and line are powerfully pushed across your palate. It has spice and momentum and holds you tight. The 2022 needs time. It was grown on a flint-rich parcel in the village of Saint-Satur, which sits below the hilltop town of Sancerre.
Score: 93
Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous.com, July 2024
Bt (750ml)
Stock Location: HK
Tasting note
Medium yellow. A fine and balanced bouquet, suggesting the sunny generosity of Combettes. I like the precision here though, with a little biscuity touch as well, and possible a touch more warmth, but all in control. Notably persistent. Drink from 2028-2035. Tasted Oct 2023.
Score: 92-95
Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy, October 2023
Bt (750ml)
Stock Location: HK
Tasting note
The newest vintage of this classic Languedoc red is a solid effort. The 2020 IGP Saint Guilhem le Desert is 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, with no more than 6% of any other single grape variety present. Naturally, cassis elements lead the way, backed by black cherries and herbal notes, plus a subtle, barely noticeable layer of cedar tying everything together. It's medium to full-bodied, streamlined and smooth in feel, with a long, silky, elegant finish.
Score: 93
Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate, January 2023
Bt (750ml)
Stock Location: HK
Tasting note
Krug's NV Grande Cuvée 170ème Édition is based on the 2014 vintage, complemented by some 45% reserve wines dating back to 1998, with the house drawing on, among many others, 2013 for structure and 2012 and 2003 for generosity. Opening in the glass with aromas of pastry cream, dried fruits, pear, warm spices, freshly baked bread and vanilla pod, it's medium to full-bodied, pillowy and fine-boned, with excellent concentration, racy acids and a precise, chiseled profile. But if the latter adjective could be applied to the 2013-base 169ème édition equally felicitously, the 2014-base 170ème is more giving and less tightly wound out of the gates and will offer more demonstrative drinking young.
Score: 95
William Kelley, The Wine Advocate, June 2022
Bt (750ml)
Stock Location: HK
Tasting note
The 2005 Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva is a fine and elegant wine inspired by the vineyards of Graves in Bordeaux. 2005 was an excellent vintage, when 154 hectares of vineyards from the 170 they own were in production. The grapes were picked before the rains of October 12th. This is mostly Viura (Macabeo), but it always contains some 10% Malvasía Riojana, and the white varieties are always planted on whiter, limestone-rich soils. It matured in used oak barriques for six years before bottling. María José and Mercedes López de Heredia told me their Viura, with the low yields they get (often 2,000 kilograms per hectare), shows less of the vintage differences, and even in torrid years like 2003, the wines do not show heat. It's very interesting comparing this with the Gravonia from 2008, as this showed higher ripeness and a lot more developed aromas, nuttier with hints of hay and straw, honey and also chamomile and dried flowers. But the oak is never obvious in the wine, it only adds spiciness but no wood aromas. 2005 was also a warmer, riper and more powerful vintage, which shows more in the palate, which is round and powerful with pungent flavors. 20,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2013 over two consecutive days.
Score: 95
Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate, March 2018
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