LdH

At David Bowler yesterday I had the pleasure of tasting quite the LdH line-up. I started out in Spanish wine (Tinto Fino, East Village), nearly five years ago, and Lopez wines induced my first of many startling palate revelations, spurring further (continuing) obsessions with sherries, orange wines, Jura wines, etc,,,,.

The first Lopez wine I had years ago was a 1996 Vina Tondonia rose. My roommate brought it home for a party. I must have worked that night at the wine shop because most of it was gone by the time I got home, but she had saved me a glass that I had the next day. The bottle had been open for almost a full twelve hours, and was gorgeous! I couldn't believe the smokiness that I was tasting, with crushed rose petals and sort of a salted persimmon thing I couldn't quite place, a Middle Eastern sweet/sour incense red flavor that was spiced, glazed, like orange flower water that I keep next to my bed, or rosewater that gets slightly musty worn on the skin.

Say what you will about LdH bottle variation, or too-traditional, old school methods, these wines are BEAUTIFUL, unique, and hit my palate in just that sweet spot that I didn't know existed. Others have written beautifully and much more exhaustively on the subject; (my dear friend Pam Govinda, where can I find your article on them, Levi Dalton, Neil Brooklyn Guy, also):

http://saignee.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/day-19-2-the-future-of-spanish-wine-part-ii-%E2%80%93-talking-about-tondonia/

But this morning it has just started snowing again, I am warm under blankets, I am exhausted. There has been so much wine-tasting and wine talking this past week or so, I am struggling to come up with any synthesis or structure in these words. But I needed to pin down some of my impressions from yesterday, and am trying to fix these impressions in a concrete way, tiredness be damned.

What are the characteristics that I love so much about these wines? Clove, cinnamon, leather, candied ginger, just-candied pineapple, salted caramel,,,, what is not to love? I think its the "off-ness" of the tastes for me, the spice but the mellow underside of it, the balsamic stretch underneath, the crushed or dusted fruit instead of bright acid roundness. Even after 30 years in the bottle the whites are like liquid amber, mellow, candied, yet still fresh.

Here are my notes from the tasting yesterday, and would love some comments feedback from other wine folks that were there:

REDS:
Bosconia Reserva 2002: young
Bosconia Gran Reserva 1991: (clay): animal nose, green peppercorn
Bosconia Gran Reserva 1981: more oak than Tondonia, more cinnamon, less richness
Bosconia Gran Reserva 1964: sweeter, candied pineapple


Tondonia Reserva 2000: (limestone) minerals showing through
Tondonia Gran Reserva 1991: out
Tondonia Gran Reserva 1980: too green, cocoa, green peppercorn, warm spice on finish
*Tondonia Gran Reserva 1981: **** oak, more orange in color, bitter orange, dark vanilla, caramel on palate, musty, loved it****
*Tondonia Gran Reserva 1964: ****coffee grounds, orange, bitter chocolate, concentrated, dark****


WHITES:
Tondonia Gran Reserva White 1970: less on the nose/less beeswax, sweet corn, viscosity, velvety on finish
*Tondonia Gran Reserva White 1973: ***grassy/straw nose, candied ginger, favorite white, musty, still fresh though******
Tondonia Gran Reserva White 1964: honey on nose, but watery