Spain’s Verdejo

The New Challenger to Sauvignon Blanc? Worth Trying and Comparing!

Featured in Terroir Guru

By Shankar Chaudhuri

In one of my previous guest columns, I noted how the Guardian’s wine critique, Fiona Beckett, was so taken in by Vermentino that she considered this signature white from Sardinia – not Riesling, Pinot Gris or Viognier - to be a serious challenger to Sauvignon Blanc that in her own words “has had an unbreakable grip on wine drinkers’ affections for so long.”

I just wonder if Ms. Becket would still hold on to her statement if she happened to taste the Verdejo wines I’ve tried from the Rueda region in Spain. Over the course of the past twelve months or so, I have tried a good number of Verdejo wines that ranged from pricey to affordable or inexpensive. I must say that almost on each and every occasion Verdejo has captivated me with its elegance, pristine clarity, refined floral smells and complex minerality.  I would not be surprised at all should any master sommelier choose Verdejo over Sauvignon Blanc in a blind tasting. Verdejo has become my white wine of choice for both casual and formal dinners. In particular, it has been a great addition to my dinners for the summer months.

Before I go into details about some of the Verdejos that I find particularly versatile and fascinating, here is a brief primer on Verdejo, an indigenous varietal from the Rueda region in Spain.  Bordering on the left bank of the Duero River in the province of Valladolid, and a little over 200 kilometers (120 miles) north ofMadrid, Rueda covers a region that extends all the way to the borders of Segovia in the south east and Avila in the south west. The dry, continental climate, extreme temperature variations and poor-quality pebble dominated soils provide the unique and unusual conditions where the Verdejo variety could thrive and achieve its fullest expression.  Terroir is important to the final product in Rueda.

Originally thought to have been from brought by the Moors from North Africa, Verdejo has been grown in Rueda from the times of King Alfonso VI in the 11th century. It remained, however, in relative obscurity until the 1970s when the well-known Rioja-based winery of Marques de Riscal resurrected it with its own release of Verdejo. Riscal’s efforts paid off with Rueda receiving the Dominion of Origien (DO) designation - the first of its kind in the entire Castile region - from the Ministry of Agriculture in 1980.

But it was not until the late 90s that Verdejo emerged as a varietal capable of producing high quality wines. Improvements in vinification methods including night-time harvesting, barrel fermentation and nitrogen application finally enabled the wine to achieve the right balance and acidity, desired freshness and longevity.

Belondrade y Lurton: A top quality Verdejo

Perhaps the wine-maker who helped elevate Verdejo as a world-class wine is Diedre Belondrade, a French expat who fell in love with Rueda and understood early on Verdejo’s potential. In 1994, he introduced Belondrade y Lurton - a Verdejo, barrel-fermented elegant wine, harmonious, well balanced and expressing the complexity of the different terroirs in which it is grown. With each subsequent vintage, Belondrade’s conviction in the aging potential of Verdejo strengthened. Today, Belondrade y Lurton has assumed the status of one of Rueda’s most celebrated and trail blazing wines.

I first tried the 2013 vintage last year and fell in love with it. As I reported in one of my previous columns, I found it to be a balanced and harmonious wine. With bright yellow color, it was rich, flavorful, and smelled of ripe citrus and represented the best characteristics of Sauvignon Blanc. I tried the 2014 vintage recently and found it to be equally well structured, if not more stunning. Similar to the 2013 vintage, it is 100% organically grown Verdejo varietal, aged 10 months in French oak followed by 5-6 months in a bottle, achieving the characteristics of a rich yet refined, flavorful, balanced and harmonious wine. It provided a lengthy, exquisite finish, and I yearned for more. It’s a true age-worthy wine that will get better through the next five years or more. Decanting this wine, yes decanting a white wine (not heresy!), for about half an hour before drinking would help it unfold its aromas and flavors.

The fact that Diedre Belondrade could produce a vintage of this caliber year after year testifies to how a grape could achieve its fullest potential in the hands of a master craftsman.  It’s remarkable that he has been able to generate a wine of such complexity in an extremely temperamental terrain where two adjacent plots in the vineyard could differ from one another in soil type and content. At a retail price of $35, this is a wine to have and share on special occasions and with any elegant meal. 

Naia and el perro verde: authentic and quality Verdejos

If Belondrade is an example of a top notch Rueda white, then Naia and el perro verde are not far behind. Somewhat less complex and less subtle than Belondrarde, they are nonetheless authentic representations of very well-structured Verdejo wines at remarkably bargain prices of around $15 each.

Naia 2014 is a product of untrained vines – some date from before the phylloxera crisis of the late 19th century and are probably more than a century old – yielding a fresh, aromatic and mineral infused wine with a long finish. It’s a balanced and refined wine where the aroma, texture, acidity, dryness and finish achieve a harmonious equilibrium. Extended lees aging and use of new oak have accentuated the complexity of this wine and enhanced its flavors. You invariably crave for the next sip.

It should drink well for the next two-three years and would be a great complement to most kinds of appetizers and a range of main dishes, including spicy kinds.

The innovative label of the el perro verde bottle grabs your attention immediately. Of course, the look of el perro verde is a mirror image of its quality. It has most of the hall marks of Naia albeit with a tad more pronounced accents of herbs and flowers. On the other hand Naia has more minerality and greater dryness with an alcohol content of 13.5% compared to el perro verde’s 13%.

El perro verde has a long finish. It should go well with all forms of light tapas, any vegetable dish or sea food and soft cheese such as brie.

Basa: a Rueda blend that accentuates Verdejo’s versatility

Another Rueda wine that I’ve fallen in love with is Basa. I tried their 2013 vintage last year and was impressed by its delicate, nuanced and unpretentious qualities. With its floral aromas, freshness and unvarnished texture, it should generally be able match both Naia and el perro verde in most categories.  Basa is a product of the wine company of Telmo Rodríguez, a pioneering wine maker in Spain. Unlike Naia and el perro verde which are both 100% Verdejo, Basa is a blend of Verdejo (92%) and Viura (8%), which also is an indigenous varietal.  Priced around $12, Basa is a classic example of a rare wine that can still offer quality at an astonishingly affordable price. A wine for all seasons, it should be a great match for Spanish omelet (Tortilla Espanola,) garlic prawns (Gambas Ajillos), stir fried trout, or Asian dishes. 

So if you haven’t already tried Verdejo, try it out this summer. I’m confident that you will like it, especially if you’re into whites. Even if you’re not into whites, a Verdejo might be a great introduction to the great possibilities or heights a white wine can achieve. As you take a sip of Verdejo, you will probably wonder, as I did, how a wine of this elegance and refinement could come out of the rustic vines and the most rugged and pebble-infested soils of Rueda. Verdejo indeed is a special wine.