López de Heredia will sell no wine before its time

Viña Todonia Rosado 1998
Rioja, Spain

mostly Garnacho (Grenache), with smaller amounts of Tempranillo and Viura

by López de Heredia

When we tell people that we are pouring a rosé made in 1998 on our list and that the wine is the winery’s CURRENT RELEASE they think that we’re crazy. Most people think of rosé as cheap quaffing wine, made by blending a little red wine into white (it makes you want to blush: “pink like rosé, drinks like Chablis”). But the great rosé of the world — like those made by Tempier, Terrebrune, and López de Heredia — are tannic wines with amazing aging potential and acquire structure and nuance as they mature in cask and in bottle.

“We will sell no wine before its time” may have been an ad slogan for cheap wine in the 1970s (see below) but at López de Heredia it’s the real deal: the winery only releases its bottlings when it feels the wines have achieved their true moment of drinkability. To release them too early would be to waste them in the eyes of the winemaker.

The new release of Viña Tondonia Rosado is one of our favorite wines of summer and it’s drinking gorgeously right now. 11-year-old rosé? The wait was well worth it…

Check out the skinny on the Viña Tondonia Rosado 1998 by López de Heredia ($56).

IF THE EMBEDDING ON THE YOUTUBES ISN’T WORKING, CLICK ON THE TITLES TO VIEW

If you think this is good…

…then you will REALLY LOVE this:

And don’t forget to sign up for the first-ever San Diego Natural Wine Summit at Jaynes, August 9, 2009!