This is my second last bottle and I fear it is in a closed period, or I hav e difficulty adjusting to this type of light wine after a summer of big nap a cabs and chocolaty supertuscans.
When I opened it , it was basically flavourless. red water. 12 hours later I poured and it started to have some bark and bitterness. Started cooking. Lamb marinated in smoked paprika, rosemary, lemon, garlic and oil, with sau teed asparagus and onions and mashed potatoes. as I cooked, the cherries an d leather started to emerge, especially after tasting some of my food as it went along, but a bit too much acid.
With the food it was amazing. It really worked well with the food - that's the time Im giving the points for. After food it is fine, but still only a shadow of the greatness of Tondonia Grand Reserva, which was an adventure. I'll see tomorrow if some more time helped a bit.
Michael Nielsen wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:
With Tondonia you have to accept that 1) they make wine in a style which is opposite to big napa cabs and chocolaty supertuscans. 2) They age their wines a lot of time and therefore there are differences between bottles. I have witnessed, at the winery, how four different bottles of 1987 white wine were slightly different. One was dull, two were good, one was astonishing. 3) They always drink well with food.
For the record, I thought the 2001 Reserva was great, but I have also had a couple of so-so bottles. I bought 75cls and magnums for the long haul and have my fingers crossed.
From cellartracker reviews it does seem that there's a large variation. Als o I think a lot of people dont know its supposed to be "Strange" haha. I do know it. I see about 50% of notes on tondonias that "its past its prime". I've even had wine store clerks say "its past its prime" this was when I bo ught their last box of tondonia grand reserva 1981 in around 2002 at a barg ain, and they were all was fine. Two years ago I had a 1978 that was still fine. But there's something about 2001 reserva. It seems notes from people who know tondonia say that vintage is a bit off?
3 years ago I had one and it was very bitter and unpleasant. I see other pe oples notes from that time, that are very different "more fruity that other tondonias". When I had mine it was void of fruit. The one I drank yesterda y ( and will continue tonight, hehe) had some fruit after it opened up.
If reservas have such variations, a grand reserva is around 100$, thats qui te a risk with even more variation.
Ive been lucky with my grand reservas 1976/1978/1981. But I havent been so lucky with 2001 reserva.
Michael Nielsen wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:
For some palates, I can understand that they feel it is past its prime. But that's the style of the wine as it has always been. No surprises here.
But there's
Quite the contrary, I would say that it is the best Tondonia Reserva I have ever had. Probably because I like my Rioja to retain a bit of fruit and I think that 2001 shows a bit more fruit that is the norm. For sure, quite much more than the 2000. 2002 has just hit the market and I have yet to taste it.
I am also aware of a group of wine disordered lovers that abhor the infinitesimal amount of fruit in a wine and, for them, 2001 should be a vintage to avoid, I think.
I never had a bitter and unpleasant Reserva 2001. Some have been delicious, other a bit less so. I am obviously closer to the winery and only purchase from perfect provenance, on the other hand.
Two months ago I opened one bottle of Ramonet Premier Cru 2005 and it went down the sink. Not premoxed but totally dull, and I had kept it at
11? ever since release.
With Gran Reserva from Tondonia, we are talking 20 years old wine. I assume bottle variation at that age. Pretending that all the bottles are equal is probably unrealistic.
I tried GR 1994, which is also from a great year, and was dissapointed. When La Rioja Alta released 904 Gran Reserva 2001 I bought one bottle with the idea to taste and, if I liked it, purchase one case. I did not like it. However, a few months later (exactly last wednesday night), a friend provided one bottle to a blind tasting and it was singing. Different bottles, different days... this wine thing is so difficult.
Did you go very heavy with your purchases of Tondonia Reserva 2001?
I remember one reviewer stating that it is an odd vontage because it had mo re fruit than tondonia normally has. While others said its VA acidic and no thing else. Its rare I see so much variation in tasting notes for a wine lo l.
I remember the 1978 GR as having more fruit than the 2001 reservas I had. I drank the rest today and it was more balanced today than yesterday. I cons ider that a sign that it may be too early to drink , not past its prime.
The bitter one I had was from The Spanish Table in Berkeley, CA. Its also w here I bought the 1978 GR. I drank the reserva over there, while the 1978 h ad to travel by plane back to Denmark. The one I drank now was from Lleida, after I saw technology demos in the fields in Raimat. Eg.. UAVs with therm al cameras and such geeky stuff :)
The one I have left is from a rare store in Denmark, where they didnt even know it. Since I found Heredia they've been lacking a danish distributor fo r many years and few years ago they seem to have found a small one. So in s mall stores in copenhagen it can be seen, but only reserva. So I always loo k for it abroad.
Im trying to remember the vintage of a box I got from Girona. those were al l great. It was the 2001 as it was still in barrels. It was the vintage tha t was the current release in 2005. maybe 1995? GR is 16-20y on release (198
1 was 16y and 2013 will be released when it is 20y , the winery told me). N ot sure about Reserva.
And we are not even taking the risk of being corked. Will stores exchange a dead wine that is not corked (assuming its bought locally)?
I once bought a box of 1976 Navarra GR and a box of 1973 of the same. all 1
2 were fine. Dont remember the name...
Not so much worried about being "equal" but at least not dead.
Have you tried Vega sicilia "Unico"? Ive been eyeballing it in Lleida and in Italy.
Michael Nielsen wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:
Yes, I have had a few Unicos, even though they are way above my usual price range (10 times de price of a Tondonia Reserva, at least in Spain). Last one I had was a 94 and was great.
I meant if you had purchased a lot of bottles and were now feeling remorse.
I was at a tasting where they had Chateau Latour vs Pingus - both were 800E . Pingus was best for me, but most people raved about the Latour. But flor de Pingus was the best buy at a tenth of the price.
No, it is very rare I buy cases of a wine. I'm too curious so I get a bottl e here and there and have a full winerack (overloaded in 3 layers...), but still go out and find a new wine to drink, when I want to drink one. Drank the Tondonia to make room for my california purchases . 6 bottles.
could have gotten a box of sequoia grove reserve,so I wouldnt have the same trouble as always; "hmm, I want this wine today.. but if I do I wont have it anymore, so I better go out and buy something else". Instead I got 2 and then 4 different wines. The good thing about the tondonia was that I have one more. Next time I will be in trouble.
s the time Im giving the points for. After food it is fine, but still only a shadow of the greatness of Tondonia Grand Reserva, which was an adventure . I'll see tomorrow if some more time helped a bit.
Follow up notes:
Had the rest of it. and it became more balanced and also worked as a sippin g wine as well as a food wine. It had a meaty character and darker cherry, and a nice textured finish. So I'll go against many of the tasting notes [o n cellartracker], by saying it can take some more aging to be really good.
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