Lopez de Heredia

Another thing that we scored when we were in California were Lopez de Heredia wines. I read about the wines in Alice Feiring's book The Battle for Wine and Love and wanted to try it because I knew from reading her book that this wouldn't be what Alice calls a "spoofolated" wine.
We found the current releases of the Lopez de Heredia wines, the 2002 Bosconia and the 2000 Tondonia. We came close to tasting a 2000 Tondonia at our friend's home, but the person who brought the wine, took it back with him. Now, we were face to face with the objects of our desire. We also bought the 1991 Tondonia Red Gran Reserva.
We had a chance to drink both the wines in California. We drank the 2002 Bosconia with vegan (my husband's sister is a vegan) eggplant parmesan in not quite wine glasses and the deliciousness of the wine refused to succumb to less than ideal glasses. There were fruit flavors balanced with acidity and because it was almost 9 years old, soft tannins. All this for around $30.00! We drank the 2000 Tondonia with Bob Hurlbett when we met him in Santa Barbara. We were at a seafood restaurant so perhaps the pairing wasn't as perfect as it could be with a Tempranillo. Overall, we preferred the Bosconia to the Tondonia (a bit more in price at $35.00, but it is 11 years old!).
If you can find this wine, try it, it will be worth it. If you need more convincing, please see the video of Gary Vaynerchuk interviewing Maria Jose, the current winemaker at Lopez de Heredia carrying on the tradition begun by her great grandfather in 1877!
Part 1 of interview with Maria Jose (about 30 minutes long)
Part 2 of interview with Maria Jose (about 15 minutes long)