Five to explore

We road-test a handful of DO Rueda Verdejo wines available from importers in the UK

Hermanos del Villar Oro de Castilla

2021

Cachet Wine RRP £10.99

Here’s proof that Verdejo can pull off several tricks at once. There’s definitely some tropical fruit in evidence here –notably lychees – but these sweeter flavours soon make way for more citrus notes, with limes and gooseberries to the fore. Then the minerality kicks in, with wet stone notes on the clean, dry finish. A wine that works as a summer aperitif but is also perfect with soft, ripe cheese.

Beronia Verdejo 2021

Gonzalez Byass UK RRP £12

Harvested at night to retain freshness, the fruit is fermented in a combination of stainless steel and concrete tank, which gives the winemaking team its desired blend of clean, precise purity as well as a richer, more lees-influenced element. The aroma of the finished wine is quite citrusy, but there’s some peach lurking there too. On the palate it’s vibrant and bracing, with a tantalising hint of fennel bitterness.

Marques de Cáceres Verdejo 2020

Light House Brands RRP £8.99

Again, the grapes are harvested at night and cooled, before being gently pressed in oxygen-free conditions. After fermentation – a complicated business, involving a variety of temperatures and yeast types which have been deemed appropriate for different parcels – the wine settles on its fine lees and is then bottled. There’s a succulent richness in the wine which makes it generous and approachable, but also some tart grapefruit notes for balance.

Dominio de Verderrubi PITA 2021

Raymond Reynolds RRP £16.50

There’s a real intensity to the aroma, which conjures passion fruit and blossom, and the palate is decadently unctuous. It’s a great example of how Verdejo from Rueda can perform at the riper end of the spectrum, but, being Verdejo, there are always deeper depths to explore. In this case we also discover green pears and grapefruit, and there’s even a faint salinity that makes this such a versatile food match.

Diez Siglose Verdejo Ecologico 2021

Boutinot RRP £9.99

Another example of a Verdejo wine from Rueda with some extra leesy body weight, and plenty of ripe stonefruit sweetness, but it retains its poise and elegance thanks to its zippy citrus notes and fresh acidity. It’s the work of a collective of small and medium-sized growers, working as organically and sustainably as possible on land that they have grown to understand intimately over the generations.

Celebrate World Verdejo Day on Friday, June 10. The UK is one of eight countries that will join in this year’s celebrations, involving social media activity and consumer competitions. The website will also highlight independent merchants who stock Rueda wines and are part of the promotion. Find out more at tasterueda.uk.

Susana Balbo

Susana Balbo Wines (Enotria&Coe)

The grande dame of Argentinian wine has been a hugely important figure in shaping the country’s wine industry for more than 40 years. After graduating in oenology from university in Mendoza in 1981, Balbo became the first qualified female winemaker in Argentina, and found renown initially for her revival of Torrontés in her first job at Michel Torino in Salta. More recently, her stint as head of Wines of Argentina cemented her position as one of the most influential people in wine anywhere in the world. But it’s the quality of the wines she makes in her fastidiously experimental, eponymous winery with which Balbo continues to make the biggest impression on the wine world.

Louisa Rose

Yalumba (Fells)

When Louisa Rose worked her first vintage at Yalumba in 1992 there were something in the region of 32ha of Viognier in the world. By the time Rose was celebrating 30 years with the company in 2022, there were more than 16,000ha. Yes, we know, correlation is not causation. But the boundary between the two is somewhat blurred in this instance: no one has done more to raise the profile and understanding of Viognier as a variety, and few have made better wines from it. That’s only part of Rose’s achievement, however. As the company’s chief winemaker, she has shown herself adept at making quality wine from a range of varieties and at all price points and volumes, up to and including some of Australia’s very best Cabernet and Shiraz.