R. Lopez de Heredia, Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva, Rioja 2001

No white Gran Reserva had been produced since 1996, and the next vintage will be 2001. The 2001 Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva is a wine that has the textbook profile of a white Tondonia, with hints of diesel, mushroom, citrus and honey. The oak is still noticeable, and the wine feels young and with a long life ahead. 2001 was an extraordinary vintage, and the grapes were very healthy. They started picking the white grapes the 8th of October, and the last grapes were picked the 29th of October, with 21 days of good weather. The grapes ripened properly and thoroughly, and the wine has great balance for a long aging in bottle. This is 90% Viura and 10% Malvasía Riojana that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. It has 12.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.1 and 6.8 grams of acidity (tartaric). The palate has pungent flavors and great length. There is great balance and harmony, all the pieces are there to deliver a wine that is going to last 40 or more years. There is a Jura-like twist of rancid nuts and some spices in the nose, which is clearly above all the other whites, complex, layered, nuanced and intense. It has very pungent, penetrating flavors of mushroom and forest floor, more powerful but subtle, finishing with a pleasant bitter and salty twist. The complexity and balance here are brutal, with bitter, sweet, salty, acidity . . . and umami! This is approachable now and for the next decades! It has to be among the best Gran Reserva whites, a modern-day 1973? 5,000 bottles were filled after being fined with fresh egg whites in July 2012.

Wonderful aromas of almonds, nougat, dried peaches and vanilla bean follow through to a full body with a dense palate of ripe fruit and amazing, unique vanilla cream. Some candle wax and light varnish, too. Historical taste of Rioja that every wine lover should try. Drink now.