Verdejo

Verdejo makes up a huge 40% of all white wine sold in Spain, and yet the most important producing region, Rueda, sends less than 15% of its wines to overseas markets. So what do the Spanish see in this variety that others are missing?

While grown throughout Spain, it is in the expansive region of Castilla y León where the Verdejo grape reigns. High on the windy and sparsely populated plains of the Meseta Central, north of Madrid, the variety fully develops its showy lime and tropical aromas with racy acidity.

This tasting aimed to attract Verdejo from all over Spain, and while there were a handful of wines from producers in Rioja, Zamora, La Mancha and Almansa, the majority (110 out of 120) were from DO Rueda. Sarah Jane Evans MW commented that ‘it was a shame there weren’t more examples from (Vino de la Tierra) Castilla y León, where producers are making some really exciting wines’, and are often operating outside the more restrictive rules of individual DOs.

Most of the wines tasted were from the 2020 vintage, with just a few older (but recent) vintages. While the tasting didn’t allow for a comprehensive comparison of regions and years, it certainly highlighted some important stylistic variations which are interesting to explore. The dorado (traditional, oxidative style) wine aside, half of the 12 top-scoring wines were unoaked, with the other half either