The White Stuff (Rueda, Spain)

Not too long ago, there was a region to the south west of the Ribera del Duero that produced a wine very similar to that of Jerez. Just like their colleagues down south they grew palomino, a very fast ripening high yielding variety that they harvested early with plenty of acidity, and then made wine in the flor based solera system in the sun. That was until the Rioja winery Marques de Riscal came in search of a region to produce white wine, and found some very old indigenous verdejo vines. Seeing the potential for the wines here, they cultivated vines and began to produce crisp fresh white wines that captured the imagination and the palates of Spanish wine drinkers, particularly in warmer weather when full bodied reds can be a little unforgiving. Soon the region flourished as more producers began producing wine in the region, particularly important people like Telmo Rodriguez, and suddenly Spain had found its new white wine region. The second wave occurred towards the end of the 1990s as some vintners began fermenting and ageing verdejo wines in barrels, and a new style was created.

The soils and stones of Rueda

What's the deal? (Rioja, Spain - Day Three)

Despite the fact that the Rioja region only runs for about 130km, it is an unbelievably diverse region geologically and climatically, not to mention the fat that it actually crosses three political regions of La Rioja, Basque and Navarra. The region follows the Ebra River and which sits between the Cantabrian Mountains to the North-East and another range to the South-West, and has a wide valley ideal for the cultivation of a range of agricultural products. The climate is quite interesting, as it is a combination of Atlantic, Mediterranean and Continental. They are protected from rain coming from the north so it is very dry, and as they have cool air sucked up the valley from the Mediterranean so it is relatively cool at night. The micro-climate depends on a number of factors, including elevation, aspect and soil, the latter of which varying significantly from alluvial, to calcareous, to clay, limestone and chalk. The fact that most wine in Rioja is blended from a great range of these individual terroirs means that you are losing a lot of the nuances, but luckily there are estates like the three I visited today who are focusing on village and single vineyard wines in the future.

Rioja Alavesa as depicted by an artist that lived at Remelluri