The Whites of Rueda Get Serious

BY JOAQUÍN HIDALGO | FEBRUARY 08, 2024

If you’re looking for uncomplicated, fruity whites with a degree of concentration, Rueda is the place to come. This corner of Castilla y León is a safe bet, a haven in which to quench a summer thirst in the shade or standing at the bar. But Rueda also has more to offer on its paths not so well-trodden, where producers are beginning to explore different methods of aging as a means by which to expand their wines’ flavor palate. Rueda whites are produced on a sunny plain to the southeast of the city of Valladolid, through which the Duero River meanders casually, bringing life to a bright, pale landscape sprinkled with patches of pine forest and vineyards.

I visited the region in early September 2023. Until then, all I knew of Rueda was what I’d read and tried at international fairs—a handful of fruity, vibrant, fairly concentrated whites that, to my palate, spoke of a harsh landscape and an unusual grape almost unknown outside of Spain. The beating heart of Rueda is Verdejo, a white variety that combines the best attributes of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay: it has the former’s energy and jolly expression and the latter’s fat and substantial mouthfeel.    

My trip to Rueda confirmed some of my preconceptions but also opened my mind to new possibilities, leaving me thirsting for more. In terms of preconceptions, it must be acknowledged that Rueda is a region of industrial wines made on a large scale, with technical expertise to match. Also worth noting is the fact that many of the bottles I tasted for this report (about 180) are quite similar to one another. But just when I thought my jaunt out into the Castilian plains could easily have been covered by a tasting back in the office, a few bottles emerged with attractively distinctive new profiles. The first thing that caught my eye was a slate of Verdejos made with grapes from old vines and savvily aged on lees, such as Chapirete, Montepedroso and Oro de Castilla. This method brought a new texture to the wines. I also discovered old styles of wine from the region that are little known beyond its borders, such as Dorado, or some Verdejos aged for a well-calibrated amount of time in oak barrels.

The three days I spent in Rueda thus brought up some contradictory impressions: one must try a lot of rather similar labels to find the occasional unique wine—as can be seen in the tasting notes—but that said, some bottles genuinely stand out thanks to their distinctive character. That is where the true magic of Rueda lies.

A snapshot of the town of Rueda, which lends its name to the Denominación de Origen (DO Rueda). The image showcases Verdejo vineyards and the tanks of the largest companies.

Verdejo & DO Rueda

Of the 20,300 hectares of white grapes planted in the Rueda DO, Verdejo accounts for 88%, followed distantly by Sauvignon Blanc at 7.9%, with the rest split between Viura, Palomino and Chardonnay. So, Rueda is a DO dominated by Verdejo.

There is widespread consensus that Verdejo originated in Africa and was introduced to Spain in the 12th century, where it found its place in the world. In fact, Castilians tend to say that Verdejos from other regions in Spain and beyond display nothing like the character they do in Rueda. Well-adapted to the sunny climate with thick skins, Verdejo has a unique ability to conserve acidity. Bold, fruity aromas, such as green apple and peach, along with hints of herbs and fennel, are complemented in the mouth by good volume, fat and breadth, with a trail of bitterness sometimes appearing at the back of the throat. It’s thanks to this structure that it can age well—I tried a few bottles that were resplendent at more than 10 years old—especially when the grapes come from old vines.

For a Verdejo to be classified as a Rueda, at least 50% of the wine must consist of the variety and, as is true of most regulations of this kind across the world, it must meet or surpass the 85% threshold to be classed as varietal. Bureaucracy aside, the fact is that Rueda is a fairly monolithic DO in terms of style and potency, as the region mainly focuses on industrial Verdejos (79 wineries process grapes from the region, which is to say, they pay less attention to the details). Exacerbating this situation is the fact that about 15,000 hectares of Rueda’s Verdejo vines (around three-quarters of the total surface area under vine) are less than 25 years old. As a result, the flavors tend to be rather similar, and complexity is difficult to achieve. However, as I said, there are a few captivating bottles to be found. Today, the DO is undergoing a process of transformation driven by producers who are experimenting with aging in order to produce new flavor profiles and achieve greater sophistication.

This movement has already been written into the regulations. In 2019, the regulatory council approved the label Gran Vino de Rueda to describe whites from vineyards older than 30 years old, with maximum yields of 6,500 kilograms-per-hectare, of which at least 65% must be used for wine. Many of these wines are also barrel aged. This is where two different paths emerge: some Verdejos taste as though the wood influence was simply added at the end rather than having developed in barrel, but others are far more promising—woody or otherwise. That’s where Rueda really gets serious.

Montepedroso Estate, located in Rueda, employs two lees aging methods without the use of oak: some wines go to stainless steel tanks, while others go into concrete eggs. The extended bottle aging completes the rounding process for Verdejo.

The New Old Ruedas

Even before the legislation, some producers aged their Verdejos. An interesting example is Belondrade, who, since 1994, has made and aged Verdejos, which they then sell at premium price points and even as futures. Their 2021 Belondrade y Lurton is a well-calibrated clock. They forged a path now being followed by other producers. Bordelais winemaker François Lurton, for instance, makes Verdejos using unusual aging regimens: partly in barrel, partly in concrete, partly in Clayvers, to avoid wood overpowering Verdejo’s freshness and magic. His 2021 Campo Eliseo is a good example of this approach, which produced a lively white. This can also be said of the 2021 Cuatro Rayas Longverdejo Gran Vino de Rueda and the 2020 Meraldis Gran Vino de Rueda.

In this case, aging works best when it’s done with lees. Here, the work of Montepedroso, a producer of wines with rich profiles, is notable, as is that of José Pariente and Oro de Castilla, who achieve a clean, polished style. Verdejo aged on lees takes on pastry flavors that enhance its concentrated character, yielding greater complexity and a creamier texture.

Meanwhile, the quest for greater diversification is beginning to uncover that, within the DO, there are distinct differences that can be attributed to shifts in terroir. That’s very good news. José Pariente and Oro de Castilla were the only producers I spoke to who mentioned segmenting their work at the winery by soil profile, changing their criteria to suit the make-up in question. Their wines express the calcareous textures of the region much more clearly than some of their peers. They probably aren’t the only ones, but they certainly place the greatest emphasis on these aspects.

You could write another whole chapter about old vines in Rueda. Old-vine Verdejos offer a purity and depth of flavor that captivates the palate. The greatest concentration of old vines is found in Segovia. There, I visited centennial vineyards belonging to the Herrero family, planted at a height of 2,800 feet above sea level, almost in the hills, on the outskirts of Nieva. These were some of the few gobelet-trained vineyards I encountered, along with some in Chapirete, in the village of Alcazarén. The mention of villages isn’t incidental; since 2019, producers have also bottled village wines, although it’s still very early days.   

Where Rueda truly takes your breath away, however, is with its Dorado wines. A handful of these whites recreate the ancient spirit of the region. These wines are topped up to at least 15% alcohol and subjected to oxidative aging in demijohn under the Castilian sun and dust before aging further in tank with flor. An attractive golden color, hence the name Dorado, or golden, they are quite distinctive and slightly reminiscent of amontillado sherry. I tried a few for this report, among which the NV De Alberto and 2017 Carrasviñas Dorado stand out.

Belóndrade Lurton was among the pioneering wineries to implement lengthy aging in oak barrels. Meticulous racking is crucial to prevent the oxidation of Verdejo's aromas, while carefully calibrated wood imparts nuanced textures.

Sauvignon Blanc

The second most widely planted variety in the DO is Sauvignon Blanc. Counterintuitively, it was the variety responsible for the resurgence of Verdejo. In the 1970s, the Riojan winery Marqués de Riscal was looking for somewhere to develop a project for quick-drinking Sauvignon Blanc. They planted their vines in Rueda, but they soon realized that Verdejo was the local treasure and set about reviving it. However, Sauvignon Blanc still figures among the whites of the region, usually bottled for consumption within the year. As in every sunny region where the days are hot, it produces wines that are immediately expressive but have short shelf lives. Most of the wines I tried have already grown dull just a year after harvest. However, notable exceptions exist, including the 2021 Harmonía Sauvignon Blanc and the 2021 Mantel Blanco Sauvignon Blanc.

When it comes to young whites with which to chatear (the Spanish term for going to a bar for a few glasses of wine) or just to refresh the palate, there’s no doubt that Rueda has plenty to offer the everyday consumer. Not for nothing, according to numbers published by the DO, the region currently enjoys the greatest sales growth in Spain (in a context in which overall sales are falling). However, as can be seen in some of the wines included in this report, Rueda also has a richer story to tell. Whether it’s wines to keep or just to enjoy as a treat, the region is producing a growing bunch of complex whites. Exploring them is a rewarding adventure.  

All the wines in this report were tasted in Rueda in September 2023.

Dispatches from Elsewhere on the Peninsula

Over the past year, I have also tasted numerous wines from other regions in Spain. Some of these regional reports will take some time to be completed as we continue to increase coverage of Spanish wines at Vinous. For that reason, I have included wines from smaller DOs such as Monterrei, Gredos, Zamora and a few sherries, as well as one or two bottles from Portugal in this report. Readers will also find reviews from a tasting of wines I did from Grandes Pagos de España, a group of producers concentrating on unique wines from similarly unique places.  

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