Bluff your way into: Rueda
White wine from Spain is juicy, fruity and fresh. Here at the FavorFlav editorial team, we simply can’t get enough of it. We owe our thirst for these wines entirely to Rueda, the region that made Spanish white wine so popular. Rueda what? No shame, we’ll explain exactly how this works and even recommend three of our favorites.
The wine region: Rueda
Rueda is a large, expansive wine region in inland Spain. More specifically: in the province of Valladolid, northwest of Madrid. If you want to join in the geographical conversation, drop the word ‘meseta’. These are the high plateaus at 700 meters where the vines grow.
What a climate
‘Nine months of winter and three months of hell’, the Spaniards sigh about the climate here. Long, cold stretches followed by, bang: scorching heat. Verdejo remains fairly unruffled by it all.
Viva verdejo!
Verdejo? Si! Because when you say Rueda, you say verdejo [pronounced: berdego]. The wine made from the grape of the same name is synonymous with the region and incredibly popular. And to think that for a long time, Spain wasn’t known for its white wines at all. For years, it was the ultimate red-wine country.
A little bitterness
What characterizes verdejo is its freshness, combined with a hint of bitterness. And that combination makes it such an appealing wine. Especially in summer, when an uncomplicated thirst-quencher like this is delicious with fish and salads. Exactly what you feel like when it’s hot.
A tasty trio
Rueda and verdejo may be two peas in a pod, but not all white rueda (yes, red and rosé are also made here, but in such small quantities that we won’t go into them) is made from one hundred percent verdejo. You’ll also find the viura and sauvignon blanc grapes here.
On the label
If the label only says ‘rueda’, the wine is a blend, with sauvignon blanc, for example. If the label says ‘rueda verdejo’, the wine is made from at least 85 percent verdejo. In many cases, this means a mono-cépage—a wine made from a single grape variety, verdejo in this case. And that makes sense, because of the more than 130 million kilos of grapes harvested here in 2018, 86 percent was verdejo. If you drink rueda, you’re almost always drinking verdejo. And sometimes sauvignon blanc. ‘Rueda sauvignon blanc’ will then appear on the bottle. And you guessed it: that means the wine is made from at least 85 percent sauvignon blanc grapes.
Juicy & fruity
Mono-cépage or not: rueda wines are always juicy and fruity, and packed with refreshing grapefruit. So if you love ‘citrussy’ juiciness, rueda slash verdejo is your perfect summer wine too.
Tapas wine
What grows together, goes together! Besides fish and salads, verdejo also pairs very well with tapas. Such as fried squid rings: the fresh wine cuts through them effortlessly.
3x editorial favorites
Rámon Bilbao Verdejo
A wine to fall in love with, revealing notes of anise, dill and fennel, as well as aromas of peach and passion fruit. Delicious with a plate of fried fish (fritto misto), white fish, fresh salads and grilled salmon with… dill!
Marqués de Cáceres Excellens Rueda Sauvignon Blanc
A delicious, fresh thirst-quencher from Rueda, made from sauvignon blanc. And that means, even more so than verdejo, a wine that leaps out of your glass.
José Pariente Rueda Verdejo do Fermentado en Barrica
Special! A verdejo that has been aged in oak. What can you expect? A somewhat more powerful and ‘thicker’ wine—or, as connoisseurs would say: ‘a more complex wine’. More smoky than fresh, but still with those lovely acids. Olé!
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