Why it matters
The producer
The winery complex began around 1877 in Haro, where the estate calls itself the town’s oldest winery and one of Rioja’s first three bodegas. Family ownership has kept the house’s named-vineyard range intact: Tondonia on a bottle indicates both a particular estate place and a red Reserva built from Tempranillo, Garnacho, Graciano and Mazuelo.
Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta founded the estate in 1877, then established Viña Tondonia in 1913–1914. The house grew around a winery built for ageing wine: its reds can spend years in oak before further bottle time, which moves them toward dried-fruit, spice and savoury notes while keeping tannin part of the structure.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Haro sits in Rioja Alta, while Viña Tondonia lies on the right bank of the Ebro, beside the boundary with Rioja Alavesa. The river curves around the vineyard’s shell-shaped hollow, placing the Tondonia Reserva’s grapes in a defined estate holding rather than a regional blend from across Rioja.
Viña Tondonia occupies more than 100 hectares of alluvial clay rich in limestone. That physical setting gives the vineyard its own ground beneath the red Reserva, while the estate’s 170 hectares also include Viña Cubillo, Viña Bosconia and Viña Zaconia for other named wines.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The four estate vineyards produce about 800,000 kilograms of grapes in an average year. Keeping named sites separate allows Tondonia, Bosconia and Gravonia to remain distinct labels, while the cellar gives them a shared frame of long oak maturation followed by bottle ageing.
The estate makes its own barrels in an in-house cooperage from naturally grown Appalachian oak. For Tondonia Red Reserva, six years in barrel and twice-yearly racking shape a mature red with firm tannin; for Bosconia Reserva, five years in barrel support a rounder, fuller-bodied profile.
Wines to know
The range in view
Viña Tondonia Red Reserva is the central red: 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacho, with Graciano and Mazuelo completing the blend. Its long ageing places red fruit, savoury spice and tannic grip at the centre of the wine rather than overtly sweet oak.
Viña Bosconia Reserva shifts to 80% Tempranillo and 15% Garnacho, with Mazuelo and Graciano in the remainder. Five years in barrel lead to a round, smooth, fresh and full-bodied red with persistence; Bosconia Gran Reserva is made only in exceptional vintages, in small quantities from selected grapes.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Viña Tondonia Red Reserva. It carries the name of the estate’s principal vineyard and the house’s long red-wine method in one bottle: a Tempranillo-led Rioja with Garnacho for breadth, six years in barrel, firm tannin, fresh red fruit and orange-zest lift. Its dry, savoury shape makes the connection between Haro, the Ebro-side vineyard and the cellar easy to taste.