Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta sounds like a handful of names fused together, but this one man is their founder and the forefather of all the generations that succeeded him. After phylloxera obliterated France’s vineyards in the mid-1800s, many regions, like Rioja, were explored so as to find a viable grape source. Soon after, Don Rafael took a gander and stumbled upon Rioja Alta’s humble town of Haro. He became so smitten with its beauty and terroir that he started designing and constructing Bodega López de Heredia in 1877. It became one of the first three in the entire region and remains one of Rioja's few remaining family-run wineries to this day. 

Mostly planted to Tempranillo (75%), López de Heredia’s 37-acre “El Bosque” vineyard hugs the Ebro River just minutes from their winery. This prime site sits in the Santa Cantabria foothills (about 1,500 feet above sea level) and is buried in clay-limestone soils with mature vines that are creeping past 40 years of age. Farming has remained largely unchanged since their inception (“Photographs taken in 1900 show that virtually nothing has changed”) and each carefully selected cluster is plucked and placed into small picking baskets. To my knowledge, López de Heredia has never vinified a grape that hasn’t been their own.

Now, for all you wine geeks out there, pay attention, because no one quite does it like López de Heredia in the winery. Grapes are fed into gargantuan, 24,000-liter oak vats from the late-1800s and a natural alcoholic fermentation begins. The wine is then transferred into slightly smaller barrels for malolactic fermentation—which can take up to six months. After both fermentations are complete, the wine is moved into 225-liter barriques that are made at their in-house cooperage (and have been since 1877). The process is impressive: Three Master Coopers select natural American oak from the Appalachian Mountains and trunks are shipped to their winery and shaped into one-inch thick staves. They are then dried a minimum 18 months before being crafted into a (medium-toasted) barrel. All in all, there are over 14,000 barriques in their 65,000-square-foot cellars, and this is where the prolonged aging happens. Bosconia Reserva ages a minimum five years in wood (10% new oak, the rest 10+ years old) and each barrel is racked 1-2 times per year—an inordinate amount of man hours! Afterwards, the wine is fined with egg whites and bottled unfiltered. It then rests in their ancient and humid cellars for several years. Just to give you an idea, 2006 is the current release of their Bosconia Reserva label. Lastly, you’ll notice this bottle is ‘Burgundy-shaped’ because some of the earlier versions from generations past blended in large portions of Pinot Noir! 

In the glass, López de Heredia’s ‘04 Bosconia Reserva shows an opaque ruby red at its core leading out to a slight brick orange rim. As the wine opens, you’ll find wonderfully mature notes of red and black currant, dried cherries, crushed stones, vintage leather, mushroom stock, red flowers, sweet and sour plum, coconut husk, damp clay, bergamot oil, sandalwood, and what you would imagine the archive section of a library would smell like. This is one of those sit by the fireplace and bask in the silence wines. It’s intelligent, with subtle complexities that unfold with time—with 13 years of age, it has a great deal of wisdom to impart. The palate is elegant, ultra-classic, and delivers a medium plus body. From start to finish, it’s immensely savory and structured, and, due to five years of aging in porous American oak, can be enjoyed over the course of days (it’s not afraid of oxygen!). Consume in Burgundy or Bordeaux stems (both work great) and serve around 60-65 degrees next to Basque chicken and chorizo. Remember, this isn’t a wine to pour at a raucous party—if the ambience is right, you’ll have an unforgettable experience!