2015 Lopez de Heredia Vina Cubillo Tinto Crianza (750ml)

Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain

B-21 Top Recommendation
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“Lopez de Heredia is the apotheosis of traditional, classic wines: taut, fresh, bucolic, utterly charming and amazingly long-lived.”

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate

Aged for nearly as long as many Gran Reserva Riojas at a fraction of the price, the remarkable 93 pt. 2015 Lopez de Heredia Vina Cubillo Tinto Crianza is without a doubt one of the region's top values in classically styled Rioja, its fresh, bright red fruit balanced by juicy, tantalizing acidity and finishing long with smooth tannins, crafted by the historic estate described as the “Rioja standard-bearer” by the Wine Spectator’s Gillian Sciaretta and over delivering in a big way for fans and collectors of age worthy Spanish reds.

Accessed through a labyrinth of vaulted underground corridors and staircases, visitors to the massive cobweb-laced cellars of Lopez de Heredia find themselves in a setting reminiscent of a Hitchcock film, but make no mistake - these damp, moldy cellars are the present day ground zero for the region's most classically styled and meticulously aged Riojas and essential to Lopez de Heredia’s iconic wine making legacy. Stretched over the length of two football fields below their bodega in Haro’s famed Barrio de la Estacion, the Lopez de Heredia cellars boast over 13,000 225-liter American oak barrels of varied ages, the winery continuously family owned and operated since 1877 and now run by fourth generation Maria Jose Lopez de Heredia and her sister Mercedes. Described as “the most traditional among Rioja traditionalists” by the Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutierrez, Lopez de Heredia sources its wines from estate vineyards spanning over 124 hectares, crafting the 2015 Vina Cubillo from a blend of mostly Tempranillo with Garnacha grown in a mix of alluvial clay and limestone in the estate’s sustainably farmed Vina Cubillo vineyard located a few kilometers from the winery at over 400 meters above sea level. Fermented spontaneously in a mix of neutral wooden casks some dating back over a century, the fresh and long-lived 2015 Lopez de Heredia Vina Cubillo Tinto Crianza was aged for 3 years in well-seasoned American oak barrels then transferred to larger neutral casks before further extended aging in bottle, released only when ready to enjoy and displaying exceptional “depth and capacity to please” according to Decanter’s Simon Field.

Summing up its rich potential to continue to evolve, critic Neal Martin declared, "a bottle of Lopez de Heredia is an individual and each time you meet, you may see a different side to its personality," the deliciously satisfying 93 pt. 2015 Lopez de Heredia Vina Cubillo Tinto Crianza an elegant, classically styled Rioja with underlying intensity that promises a fabulous ride for Rioja lovers seeking a bargain priced red to reach for again and again.

93WA

The 2015 Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza reflects the warmer conditions of the year, and with the riper fruit they picked to produce this wine, they still managed to keep around 13.5% alcohol. The Cubillo vineyard has more clay, and sometimes clay soils take heat better and make the wines fresher than those from poorer soils. 140,000 bottles produced.

93 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Jul 2022)

Alcohol By Volume: 13.5%

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$21.98

Compare At: $24.99

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