Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva 1994

Parker: The 1994 Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva has an elegant bouquet with light red cherries, orange blossom, mahogany bureau and burnt buttered toast. The palate has a meaty, savory entry with crisp tannins and racy acidity. It displays superb structure towards the finish where one finds notes of bitter lemon, orange peel and sage. Delicious! Drink now-2030+

Galloni: (aged for nine years in American oak barrels and then held in bottle for a minimum of eight years before release) Brilliant red. A highly complex, expansive bouquet evokes cherry liqueur, pipe tobacco, incense, vanilla and woodsmoke, accompanied by hints of five-spice powder and licorice in the background. Sweet, expansive and seamless in texture, offering intense cherry-vanilla, spicecake and rose pastille flavors that deepen slowly as the wine opens up. Fully mature but with plenty of life left in it, this wine finishes impressively long, supple and sweet, displaying discreet tannins, resonating spiciness and suave florality. I reviewed this wine five years ago and am very happy to say that it has improved with additional bottle age.

Falstaff: Delikate Patina mit frischer Frucht darin: Johannisbeergelee, Himbeerblätter, Jod, Feige. Schwerelose Dichte, sehr reifes Tannin, seidig geschmolzener Hintergrund mit reifer, nahezu unauffällig bleibender Säure. Feingliedriger Fluss, subtil mit guter Länge und zartem mineralischem Ende. Trotz der Finesse ist da auch einiger Tannindruck. Grosses Potenzial.