Mission accomplished
I went to Spain looking for our next great white - and found it
A couple of weeks back, I flew out to Spain on an important mission.
Which was to secure the next go-to white wine for WineSpark members.
No pressure then!
Welcome to Rueda
Just two hours north of Madrid and on the way to Galicia, you’ll find the Rueda wine region.
It’s high and hot here - it has one of the most extreme climates in Spain. It drops to -10°C in the winter and hits 40°C in the summer. I can confirm that on my visit it was sweltering.
This combination of altitude and extreme temperature swings makes it unique in the world for making what I believe is one of the most delicious whites around - Verdejo.
It’s no wonder the wine is good
Queen Isabella the Catholic was from these parts.
At the turn of the 16th century, she kick-started Spain’s Golden Age - helping unite Castile with Aragon, conquering Granada, and sending Christopher Columbus off to discover America.
As a result, this was once one of the wealthiest and most prosperous parts of Europe.
So they had plenty of reasons to make good wine!
Fast forward 500 years
The local wine used to be made of the Palomino grape, in a fortified, sherry-like style.
It stayed that way until 1980, when a group of eight wineries decided on a new, quality direction for the region.
They bet on Verdejo - the local grape that would go on to make Rueda famous.
Amongst that visionary group was a man called Félix Lorenzo Cachazo. Which is how we got to Rueda as we know it today.
My Spanish network came good
I’d been on the lookout for a new Verdejo for a few months now, so I dialled up my usual trusted Spanish connections for tips.
Which led me to this place, Bodegas Félix Cachazo, on a hot day on the outskirts of a dusty and sleepy village called Pozaldez.
I meet Félix’s son Eduardo, and his daughter Ángela - who was last year crowned Rueda’s Winemaker of the Year.
We jump in their car and go see some vineyards.
I’ve never seen anything like it
Having travelled to pretty much every wine region on earth at this point, I don’t say this lightly.
But as we drive up to their oldest vineyard, near the village of Alcazarén, this just feels different.
It’s a small patch of 9 hectares, completely remote and surrounded by mountains - on white sand. We are at 900m altitude and 300km from the sea. How this was under the water at some point, I have no idea. And neither does Eduardo.
But these vines were planted around 150 years ago, and have survived wars, dictators and plagues… as well as phylloxera, a nasty wine bug that wiped out most of Europe’s vineyards in the late 1800s. Phylloxera doesn’t do sand, you see.
These gnarly, weathered plants produce piddly amounts of fruit each year. But what they do make is exquisitely pure and concentrated - liquid gold.
My friend Ferran Centelles, writing for Jancis Robinson, described this spot as ‘an enclave that could well be considered a grand cru if it were in France’.
We take it all in
It’s midday and 37°C, so we take shelter under an almond tree in the middle of the vineyard.
Eduardo produces a freshly-made Spanish omelette made by his friend in the village, and an ice-cold bottle of Carrasviñas Verdejo.
Together we enjoy them, and take in the surroundings and history of the place.
The wine tastes incredible - zippy, intense and aromatic, with vibrant flavours of green apples, juicy lemons and fresh herbs.
The omelette - rich and gooey, a bit messy but worth every mouthful.
(I thought this was lunch, so I tucked in as if it was my last meal. It turned out to be the snack before lunch. Always remember - the Spanish are feeders!)
Now you can order the wine - omelette not included
With the good weather continuing, Carrasviñas Verdejo has arrived into Dublin at the perfect time.
Verdejo goes amazingly with all types of food - this is why every single bar in Spain serves it up by the glass.
I reckon every single fridge in Ireland should stock it too - ready to be pulled out whatever occasion calls for it.
So I’ve built a stockpile of 12-bottle cases and put them by the warehouse door ready to go.
The Spanish are already on to this - now you are too
The pedigree here is amazing - one of Rueda’s founding wineries, its Winemaker Of The Year, and custodians of possibly the oldest Verdejo vineyard in the world.
Ferran gave a previous vintage 17/20 and called it 'a miracle for its price'.
Most of this wine never leaves Spain. So getting an allocation for WineSpark members is a real result.
And if I help that special patch reach a few more wine drinkers outside of Spain, then I’ve played my part in the story.