2004 LdH Via Cubillo Crianza

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
2004 Lopez de Heredia Via Cubillo Crianza 13.0%
Dark blackberry and menthol, almost no oak, perhaps a smidgen of American. Good acidity, well balanced, attractive weight and texture. For people like me, speed of downing is tantamount to a point score, and this scored high. A meaningless gauge for those of you who respond to quality by making it linger.
 
there have been reports of wild inconsistency of the 2002, but I have been very lucky with.
 
Still haven't had a Cubillo...am I biased thinking they are too young? Or are they the entry level thing for Heredia? (Hard to imagine...)
 
The 2004 Cubillo was showing better a couple of months ago than the 2000 Bosconia Reserva, so I don't think it is too young to enjoy right now.
 
Not sure that comparison is the way to measure either wine, Yule. No offense intended. From my limited experience, the Bosconia is pretty much like a glacier. I'm mainly curious about the winemaker's intentions with the former.
 
No offense taken. I made the comparison because I assumed LdH intended the Cubillo to be an early drinker (relative to their other cuvees) in contrast to the Bosconia, which probably needed a couple of more years in the cellar.
 
Joel, I think the Bosconia Reserva isn't such a long-distance runner as that. It's the Gran Reserva that does you up until your dotage.

More specifically to the vintages cited here, I'm surprised, because tasting '04 Cubillo and '00 Bosconia Reserva a few months ago, I found both lacked stuffing. '99 Gravonia and '98 Tondonia Rosado (not to mention, separately, at another moment, '00 Rosado) were far more compelling, that day.

I'm a late runner in the LdH game, having come on board with '03 Cubillo (drunk, memorably, with a certain Monsieur Coad at the East Village's Terroir, for the first time, in the spring of last year), but I found the '04 thin on the ground, and the '00 Bosconia similar.

Perhaps I'm a snob. Back to my Clos St-Jean.
 
Shit...I forgot about that distinction. I did have an 81 Bosconia last year that blew my mind but, as usual, I forget. Prob the GR.
 
I believe it is the entry level...

While drinking it, I didn't think it was all that special, it was only when it ended that I realized how quickly I had been going back for more. In one's internal congress, one must give equal voice to all parties, particularly the limbic ones that have less lobal access.
 
originally posted by Matteo Mollo:
LdH wines are not for aging they are for drinking...they come pre-aged, even the Cubillo but especially the other wines.
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Not sure I agree here. '91 Bosconia and Tondonia GRs taste pretty young to me, considered in the context of wines from the '40s, '50s, '60s.
 
So your saying your gonna take a 91 bosconia and age it for 30 years??? I mean they are one of the few estates in the world that hold and release with such care. I mean i have tasted way back several times and i find that each time i check in on one, lets say the 81 bosconia, it is pretty much the "same".
 
i find that the reds benefit from further aging. but, it is the tondonia blanco that, for me, really needs some time. 73 blanco, drunk twice in the last year, is in a perfect place.
 
I don't expect rapid evolution from any 20+ y.o. wine. It's not reasonable.

But I like the way the '54 and '64 taste today, and I bet they didn't taste that way in '74 and '84, though I didn't have them then. The '91s taste much younger and more primary. The '81 is not in that class and I wouldn't keep it expecting further improvement.

Scott is right, and if you save your pennies and get a '64 blanco you can see the strongest version of that argument.
 
There is absolutely no question that the '91 Tondonia GR red needs more time. It's insultingly young for a LdH. I discussed it with Mara Jos Lpez de Heredia a few months ago and she agrees with me on that.

OTOH Cubillo plays in a different league.
 
T'was why I asked in the first place....and one of the reasons I've avoided the Cubillo. Not sure I want to taint my palate with an LdH lite.
 
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
T'was why I asked in the first place....and one of the reasons I've avoided the Cubillo. Not sure I want to taint my palate with an LdH lite.
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i still enjoy the cubillo. can't open a bottle of the 73 (or for that mater 64) tondonia blanco every day...
 
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
T'was why I asked in the first place....and one of the reasons I've avoided the Cubillo. Not sure I want to taint my palate with an LdH lite.
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That's one of the most "wine snobbish" comments I have ever read.
 
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