Lopez de Haro’s Rioja Clásica 2005 comes from San Vicente de la Sonsierra, one of Rioja Alta’s most reliable sources of structured, long‑lived Tempranillo. The village sits on the northern bank of the Ebro, where vineyards climb the lower slopes of the Sierra de Toloño on poor, stony clay‑limestone soils. This part of Rioja combines a continental climate with Atlantic influence: warm, dry summers, cool nights, and a long ripening season that gives Tempranillo depth without heaviness. The Classica range is produced as a tribute to traditional, long‑aged Rioja, drawing on old‑vine parcels and extended maturation in barrel and bottle.

The 2005 vintage was one of the region’s standouts, marked by a dry summer, healthy fruit and slow, even ripening. After a long period in American and French oak and more than a decade of bottle age, the wine now shows the mature profile expected of a classic Rioja Alta release. The aroma is layered and savoury, with dried cherry, tobacco leaf, cedar, leather and a faint balsamic note. The palate is medium‑bodied, silky and still well‑structured, with fine tannins, balanced acidity and a long, steady finish shaped by gentle oxidative development. It is a fully evolved, traditional Rioja: complex, calm and built on the combination of old vines, careful ageing and the cooler, limestone‑driven vineyards of the Sonsierra.