TOP 100 RIBERA DEL DUERO 2024 SPECIAL REPORT B
Ribera del Duero is predominantly a red wine region, of course, with Tempranillo the dominant grape. So it’s no surprise that there are 94 tintos in this year’s selection... but it also makes rosés, or claretes – click to read the whole report
Top 100 Rueda 2024
Verdejo, Rueda’s signature grape, belongs among Spain’s and indeed the world’s best white grapes. Verdejo is such a great variety and is capable of producing wines that age well for a decade or more.
The Emergence of Sophisticated, New Styles from Spain’s White Wine Rueda Region Signifies a Shift to Curated Collections
The desires of wine drinkers are constantly expanding, creating a need to enhance age-old classics. The Rueda region is embracing this mindset by creating new classifications that can offer wine enthusiasts the same, if not more, benefits than existing Rueda styles.
7 of the Best White Wines From Spain’s Rueda
Rueda has scorching summers and frigid winters, but during the growing season, the grapes benefit from the large diurnal shifts that bring cool nights, which preserve the grapes’ acidity. Most of the vineyards lie near the Duero River and grow mainly in sandy, pebbly, and rocky soils. The wines tend to have a good deal of minerality.
Versatile Verdejo: Get to Know Spain’s Beloved White Grape
Walk into any bar in Spain and order white wine and you will likely be handed a glass of Verdejo from Rueda. The number one white wine in Spain, Rueda Verdejo has long been known as a bright, refreshing pour that delivers bang for the buck. While much of the attention on Spanish wine
Wines from Spain’s Ribera Del Duero and Rueda Show Significant Sales Increase in U.S. Over Two-year Period
Bucking Recent Wine Industry Sales Trends, Two of Spain's Most Beloved Regions Experience Sizable Sales Gains in the U.S. as Other Wines Struggle
Club Oenologique: 2024 Ribera del Duero Report
Following a tasting of close to 200 wines, Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW selects stars for the cellar from the Ribera del Duero region, as part of The Spain Report 2024
Ribera del Duero: A Shifting Frontier for Spanish Wine
Most of the vineyards in Ribera del Duero are planted between 2,400 and 2,800 feet above sea level. This means that they fall within the same temperature range. However, the soil types generally land in one of two entirely different categories: the reddish, ferrous clay of Roa or La Horra, and the whiter calcareous soils that abound up on the paramo moors. You can guess the soil type from the altitude with a few anomalies. A relief map would show that the general rule is that the higher the soil, the richer in lime, and the lower, the more clay. But some exceptions confirm the rule: pockets of calcareous clay loam, such as those that made the Vega Sicilia vineyard famous, can be found in some hillsides that mix both.
The Whites of Rueda Get Serious
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.
One of the Absolute Best Wines for Food
The thing that I love about Verdejo is that is has this beautiful, intoxicating aroma—tropical fruit, flowers, apple, and lime—but it also has a stunning acidity. Many wines that have that sort of aroma are low in acid, and the wines that are high in acid don’t have that exotic aroma. So in many ways it’s the best of two worlds!
Mandi Robertson: Five things to know about Rueda wines
%%excerpt%% It’s no shocker that in summer I gravitate towards wines that are refreshing or crisp and often times that means opening up a bottle of wine from Rueda, Spain. If you are looking for something a little different than your average Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay, you’ve got to try Rueda wines, and here are five excellent reasons why, along with my top recommendations.
Leona de Pasquale: Five Things you Need to Know about Verdejo
Verdejo can be a real crowd-pleaser in its sparkling and fruity still wine forms, but it can also be serious or diverse. With its wide-ranging styles, it can easily be a wine to be served on the table all year round.
Focus on Rueda
Wine has been produced in this high altitude region in central Spain, just northwest of Madrid, since at least the 9th Century. Its primary grape variety today, Verdejo, is a native variety, known to have been cultivated here since the 11th Century.
Wine Country International by Wine Country Network, Inc
This issue features our visit to Spain’s dynamic Ribera Del Duero wine region, where talented growers and winemakers use new techniques to create high-quality wines from high-altitude vineyards.
7 Best Wines From Spain’s Ribera del Duero
A collection of winemakers have felt the rules for upper-echelon wines were getting to restrictive, so they started experimenting with high-quality bottlings and just labeled the cosechas,
The Spanish Revolt
In the venerated Ribera del Duero region, rule-breaking winemakers are proving you can’t judge a bottle by its label.
Two Affordable Spanish Wine Styles To Satisfy Weeknight Cravings
Rueda wines are gathering attention worldwide at the moment. In 2021 a new classification, Gran Vino de Rueda, was activated for bottlings from vineyards 30+ years old, along with specific yield requirements. This might be the time to get in on these wines, with plenty of $20 and under bottles available.
The Differences Between Rioja and Ribera del Duero, Explained
In Spain, if you want vino tinto, or red wine, you usually order by region, asking the waiter to bring a glass of Rioja or Ribera del Duero. Both regions produce ageworthy, Tempranillo-based red wines with bold fruit flavors and notes of toast and spice.
Spain’s Epic White Wine Country
Rueda is one of Spain’s only designated white wine regions. Today the region produces more than 41% of Spain’s white wine production. The primary grape Verdejo is native to the area. Sauvignon is second in popularity. Other white grapes include Viura, Palomino Fino, Viognier, and Chardonnay. Visiting during Harvest was an extra exceptional experience.
6 Questions & a Story
Ribera del Duero and Rueda are two neighboring wine regions in the middle of northern Spain which, like dozens of other regions around the world, would love to sell more wine in the U.S. Most people in the trade are familiar with Ribera’s reds, with its icons such as Vega Sicilia and Pingus as well as loads of lesser-known value wines. Still, fewer know about the whites of Duero and their growing quality and value.
Wine Guy: Enjoy these Spanish and Portuguese white wines
Considering white wines from around the world, those from Spain and Portugal arguably are among the least known by consumers. And among the white wines of Spain and Portugal, Spain’s Rueda (verdejo grape) gets less attention than ... Let’s rectify that situation.
Wine Blending, Explained: How Great Vintners Craft Their Vino
On the Spanish side of the Douro River, in Ribera del Duero, winemaking at Vivaltus is performed by Montxo Martínez alongside Jean-Claude Berrouet, who made 40 vintages of Petrus before his son Olivier took over at the storied Bordeaux château. Vivaltus 2017 is made with 96 percent Tempranillo, three percent Cabernet Sauvignon and one percent Merlot.
Rueda — A Spanish Region Wine Lovers Should Know More About
If they were pressed to do so, most semi-sophisticated consumers could probably name a few of Spain’s better-known wine regions, at least as they are marketed in America — Rioja, Penedes, Navarra, Rias Baixas, La Mancha, Calatayud. How about Rueda? Just as I thought.
Top Value Verdejo Wines by James Suckling
Verdejo rarely gets the attention it deserves outside Spain even though it can deliver heritage, diversity and value in one go. For consumers who want to spend less but drink better every day, a refreshing verdejo is a great choice for summer sipping, even though its dry, crisp and bright style is by no means traditional.
Wines from Spain’s Ravishing Rueda are Perfect for Summer
The hot and muggy days of summer call for zippy refreshing wines. While many people reach for rosés at this time of the year, I find most of them to be innocuous, lacking character. Instead, I suggest trying Spanish whites from Rueda.
Why Verdejo Is The World’s Next Great White Wine & Tempranillo Is The King of Grapes in Spain
Ask any Spaniard to tell you their favorite Spanish white wine, and it’s a good bet they’ll answer Verdejo. As Spain’s number one selling white wine, Verdejo’s popularity is undeniable. Ask some of the world’s most famous winemakers inside and outside of Spain to name their favorite Spanish white wine, and the answer is likely going to be the same. Winemakers from other parts of Europe as well as within Spain view Verdejo as a grape with huge potential. As a result, these winemakers have been quietly putting down roots – literally – for the past four decades in Rueda, Verdejo’s primary growing region.
The Dozen – In Rioja’s Shadow
Almost anyone who knows Spanish wines knows a little about Rioja, considered the country’s premier red wine region. Ribera is located a little farther inland south and west of Rioja and, like Rueda, lies along the Duero River (which becomes the Douro when it reaches Portugal). But while both regions have made wine for years, they did not get their appellations until the early 1980s.
