R. López de Heredia

The Bodega Blondeau, one of the oldest buildings and used for the first fermentation of the red wines, is named after the French négociant from whom the founder, Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta, learned to make his first wines around 1875. Around 1877 he began the design and construction of the bodega in Haro, which the family describes as the oldest in Haro and one of the first three in the Rioja region. The El Calado cellar of 1892 was excavated out of rock, with a main gallery 215 metres long stretching towards the Ebro. His son, Rafael López de Heredia y Aransáez, created the family wine museum that employees christened The Cemetery in 1940, and Pedro López de Heredia, of the third generation, turned part of the Bodega Vieja into the bottle-ageing Bodega de Reservas. As of 2020, María José López de Heredia and her sister Mercedes had received offers to buy the winery over the years but had never seriously entertained them.

• Bodega founded in Haro around 1877 by Don Rafael López de Heredia y Landeta; the company name is R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, S.A.
• One of the few family-run bodegas within the Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja.
• The estate covers 53,076 square metres, including 19,718 square metres of buildings.
• The Txori Toki tower, Basque for bird house, was meant to show the firm's name from a distance and to serve as an observatory over the vineyards and the weather; its image has been the basis of the labels since 1886.
• A visitor pavilion that the bodega commissioned from Zaha Hadid was erected for the bodega's 125th anniversary at the 2002 Alimentaria Fair in Barcelona and houses the stand the bodega used at the 1910 Brussels World Expo.
• The winery is open to professionals by appointment and is closed during harvest; tastings are not available.

As of 2021, María José López de Heredia, of the fourth generation, ran the bodega with her sister Mercedes, the winemaker, and her brother Julio César, the vineyard manager.

• María José López de Heredia: fourth generation; runs the bodega (as of 2021).
• Mercedes, sister of María José: winemaker (as of 2021).
• Julio César, brother of María José: vineyard manager (as of 2021).
• Pedro López de Heredia: third generation; created the Bodega de Reservas bottle cellar.

To guarantee consistent grape quality, the bodega owns its vineyards rather than buying from other growers, and every wine is made from its own fruit. The vineyards cover 170 hectares and produce an average of some 800,000 kg of grapes a year. Viña Tondonia, of over 100 hectares on the right bank of the Ebro, was established in 1913 and 1914, with planting beginning in 1913, and is in fact a group of vineyards bought and amalgamated by the founder; it lies in a shell-like depression next to the river where it borders Rioja Alavesa, on alluvial clay with a high proportion of limestone, among poplars. Its name comes from Tondon, the old term for the large meander of the Ebro in which it sits. Viña Bosconia wines come from the El Bosque vineyard, one kilometre from the winery at an altitude of 465 metres: 15 hectares of clay and limestone, of which 11 are Tempranillo, 2 Garnacho, 1 Mazuelo and 1 Graciano, with an average vine age of 40 years. Viña Cubillo comes from Viña Cubillas, some 4 km from the bodega: 24 hectares of clay and limestone, of which 16 are Tempranillo, 4 Garnacha, 2 Mazuelo and 2 Graciano, with an average vine age of 40 years. Viña Gravonia comes from Viña Zaconia, 200 metres from the bodega: 24 hectares, all Viura, on poor, stony, south-facing slopes, with an average vine age of 45 years.

• Red varieties: Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo; white varieties: Viura and Malvasía.
• Gobelet-trained vines are a characteristic that distinguishes the bodega's vineyards.
• Some parcels lie fallow for up to 14 years before replanting, and in 2020 the family was replanting with more Graciano.

The bodega has 72 oak vats, from origins including Cantabria, Bosnia, Allier and America, ranging from 60 to about 640 hectolitres, and the must is fermented in large oak vats. The bodega uses no industrial yeasts: the tartrate-lined walls of the old vats harbour the yeasts that drive fermentation from year to year. The wines then age in some 14,000 American oak barrels of 225 litres in 6,000 square metres of underground cellars, racked once or twice a year, fined with fresh egg whites and bottled unfiltered. Around 10% of the barrels are new, 50% are about 10 years old and the rest are older. From the very beginning the company has used only American oak, and the oak it buys today is all from the Appalachian mountains; it still runs its own cooperage, which it describes as making it the only bodega in Spain to hand-craft all the barrels used to age its wines. The underground cellars carry names including La Bodega Vieja, La Bodega Nueva, La Dolorosa, El Cementerio and El Calado.

• Fermentation in large oak vats with the cellar's own yeasts; no industrial yeasts.
• Barrel ageing in 225-litre American oak; rackings once or twice a year; fining with fresh egg whites; no filtration.
• Barrel mix: around 10% new, 50% about 10 years old, the rest older.
• Gran Reservas are made only in exceptional vintages, such as 1976, 1973, 1970, 1968, 1964, 1961 and 1954; the first Reserva was bottled by the founder in 1890.

Viña Tondonia Red Reserva is 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacho and 10% Graciano and Mazuelo, aged 6 years in barrel; the Red Gran Reserva has the same blend and 10 years in barrel. Viña Tondonia White Reserva is 90% Viura and 10% Malvasía with 6 years in barrel, and the White Gran Reserva has the same blend with 10 years in barrel. Viña Tondonia Rosé Gran Reserva is 60% Garnacho, 30% Tempranillo and 10% Viura, aged 4 years in barrel. Viña Bosconia Red Reserva and Red Gran Reserva are 80% Tempranillo and 15% Garnacho with Mazuelo and Graciano, aged 5 and 10 years in barrel; the Reserva is made every year as a coupage rather than a vintage wine, while the Gran Reserva is made only in very exceptional vintages. Viña Cubillo Crianza is 65% Tempranillo and 25% Garnacho with Mazuelo and Graciano, aged 3 years in barrel, and Viña Gravonia Crianza is 100% Viura, aged 4 years in barrel. The name Viña Bosconia comes from a Burgundy-style wine with a high percentage of Pinot Noir that the founder called Rioja Cepa Borgoña, the Cubillo wines were historically called Special Harvest, and the founder's sweet botrytised whites from Zaconia were called Sauternia.

• Viña Tondonia Red Reserva: 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacho, 10% Graciano and Mazuelo; 6 years in barrel; 13% alcohol.
• Viña Tondonia White Reserva: 90% Viura, 10% Malvasía; 6 years in barrel; 12.5% alcohol.
• Viña Bosconia Red Reserva: 80% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacho, Mazuelo and Graciano; 5 years in barrel; 20,000 to 48,000 bottles a year.
• Viña Cubillo Crianza: 65% Tempranillo, 25% Garnacho, Mazuelo and Graciano; 3 years in barrel.
• Viña Gravonia Crianza: 100% Viura from Viña Zaconia; 4 years in barrel; 12.5% alcohol.
• Viña Tondonia Rosé Gran Reserva: 60% Garnacho, 30% Tempranillo, 10% Viura; 4 years in barrel.

María José López de Heredia sums up the house style as 'vinos finos'. As of 2021, the winemaker, Mercedes, was willing to cross-blend vintages, up to 15% from a previous vintage, to keep a consistent house style. The bodega has never been averse to ageing white wines in oak for as long as its reds. Wine Spectator characterises the reds, whites and rosados by firm acidities and low alcohols supporting dried fruit flavors, with hints of tertiary notes such as tobacco and nuts, a strong mineral appeal and elegant texture. Wine Spectator named the Viña Gravonia Crianza 2008 (93 points) among its Top 100 Wines of 2018.

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/indexgb.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/filosofia/filosofia.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/arquitectura.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinedos/vinedos.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/toneleria/toneleria.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/tondoniaRT.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/tondoniaGRT.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/tondoniaRB.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/tondoniaGRB.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/tondoniaROS.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/bosconiaR.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/bosconiaGR.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/cubillo.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/gravonia.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinedos/bosconia.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinedos/cubillo.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinedos/gravonia.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinedos/variedades.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinedos/recorrido.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/txoritoki.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/tienda.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/stand.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/elaboracion/crianza.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/elaboracion/nacimiento.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/toneleria/crianza.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/toneleria/roble.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/calado.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/cementerio.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/bodegavieja.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/bodegablondeau.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/vinos/vinos.html, https://www.lopezdeheredia.com/english/arquitectura/frasca.html. Secondary sources: Decanter (Simon Field MW, 9 March 2021), The Drinks Business (4 June 2025) and Wine Spectator (5 March 2020). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.