Exploring D.O. RUEDA.... Central Spain’s Great White Wine Region

Where                A little over an hour and a half’s drive northwest of Madrid, just to the south

of Valladolid.

Main towns    Rueda, La Seca, Nava del Rey, Tordesillas, Medina del Campo

What                  One of Spain’s great white wine regions and home to vibrant Verdejo!

Often maligned because of its success – New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, does this ring a bell?... Rueda is the motor of white wine consumption in Spain. Dominating the sales in bars and restaurants up and down the country, some people are sceptical of the region’s popularity.

Tall Poppy Syndrome? For sure! Bear with me – controversial opinion coming your way – but maybe, just maybe, the people have got it right! Intensely fruity, incredibly fresh Verdejo is the star here and the young wines are delicious and uncomplicatedly sound. And with producers at the more boutique end of the industry making extraordinary oak aged, bottle aged or amphora aged whites rivalling the best in Spain, it is an exciting moment in this important wine region.

A short hour and a half drive to the northwest of Madrid, the region of Rueda basically sits to the south of Valladolid, one of Castilla y León’s major cities. While some other grape varieties are allowed (including Sauvignon Blanc), Verdejo is main grape of the Rueda winemaking region. When young, it is limey, tropical and super fresh; and when aged, it takes on wonderful smoky, green pea and asparagus aromas, and a fantastic palate weight.

Rueda also has an impressive amount of really old vines. Not 30- or 40-year-old vines, but vineyards over 100 years old. Phylloxera, the pesky bug that destroyed much of the European vineyard area in the late 1800s, struggled to survive here in the very sandy soils. And given sand and canto rodado (river or pudding stones) dominate the soils of the region, Rueda escaped the worst of this era.

Wines here are usually consumed in the year of production. And quite rightly so! The majority are delicious young with racy acidity; the perfect “wine by the glass” or “easy drinking” white wine option to pair with any seafood or white meat. But the top wines of the region, after a few years of aging, are among the best white wines in Spain. With impressive acidity and low pH’s, the wines can age effortlessly for 2, 5, 10 years or more.

And speaking of older wines… the region is famous for its historic Dorado and Palido wines: Verdejo (or in some cases Palomino) aged in a sherry-like solera system under flor, resulting in an oxidative wine style that speaks of Spain’s past. These are astonishing wines, even if there are very few producers taking on the challenge to produce them today. These are certainly the wines that would have been consumed by the court of Castilla like Isabella I who spent much of her life in the region and died in Medina del Campo.

Producers to look out for:

Icons       De Alberto, José Pariente, Félix Lorenzo Cachazo, Belondrade y Lurtón

Modern Greats        Pita, Campo Eliseo, Ramón Bilbao, Garciarévalo

Ones to Watch        Rodríguez y Sanzo, Vinos Sanz

To be drunk with:

Snack                  In Spain, a packet of crisps cooked in olive oil.

In Australia, perfect with a packet of Smith’s crinkle cut salted crisps.

Meal Normally an impossible food to pair, grilled artichokes actually provide

an excellent accompaniment to an aged Verdejo, perhaps with 3 o 4 years

in bottle.

Song                   Daryl Braithwaite’s One Summer, because a classic summer hit need a

classic fresh white wine!

Movie                  Muriel’s Wedding: Toni Collette and ABBA…nothing more to say!

TV Series        Las De La Última Fila (The Girls at the Back). A Spanish series that

celebrates friendship through a girl’s trip to a town on the southern coast

of Spain. Sun, sand, shenanigans (and a fresh Verdejo, most likely!)

Sport                    The Australian Open Tennis finals. Champion wines for champions.

By Beth Willard.