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.